


Rise

by TheMadDalek



Series: Thunder Goddess [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Temeraire - Naomi Novik
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, Dragon Harry, Gen, Genderbending, Harry Potter spoilers, No Slash, No Smut, Temeraire Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-07-24 18:23:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 39,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7518503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMadDalek/pseuds/TheMadDalek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was completely the wrong shape for a human and Harry was not an Animagus, so was very used the shape of a human, and therefore clearly aware of his very much not human body. He now had too long a spine, legs felt like they bent in the wrong ways, something itched and rubbed on his back near his shoulders, and there was a vague sense of extra-ness where his tail-bone was.</p><p>First in the Thunder Goddess series. Set in the Temeraire verse with AU elements. Mostly Canon events in the HP verse until after Epilogue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A new Life

**Author's Note:**

> In this fic, there will be things that are not canon to either universe but most of it will be pretty close to canon. I will try to make the non-canon things believable but like every other fic I've done, some things may stray far from the path. I've read all the HP books and seen all the HP movies, but I've not had a chance to read all of the Temeraire series. I do have them all in book form, save for the newest one, even have them in audio format except for the new one, but the books are in storage and my audio books have bad sound and ENTIRE PARTS of the story missing. I have to read other fics, look at wiki and try to piece things together from there.
> 
> English is my main language (and that isn't fluent either as a warning XD) and I speak a smattering of German, so all dialog will be in typed in English for the readers. Some may not like that this is NOT a slash fic or an MPREG but I hope you will enjoy it for the plot and action enough to at least give it a try. I will be tweaking the main Canon characters that interact with Harry instead of adding a lot of OCs. This will lead to many (but not all) being quite AU at times. Some parts might happen a bit fast or have time skips, this is intended because the events didn't change from canon or not much from it. But also because I want Harry as the focus in this story, so if Harry doesn't go somewhere a major book event happened, then it won't get shown. The time skips are also to get the story started, not draw it out for ages before anything actually happens. SPOILERS For all HP books/movies, with some things changed here and there to work for the plot. And for at least the first three Temeraire books...for now.
> 
> Mostly Canon pairings, but I will not focus on such relationships. Harry will be the only 'canon character' to not truly pair off, but will dabble in some relationships at least emotionally in the beginning. Also a gender bender fic with a female Harry, but Harry wasn't female in the past life, only this new one. There is a reason for this, it's not just to have a female Harry Potter for the sake of having a female HP. 
> 
> Also also, This will also have an indifferent Harry in it. Harry is old and doesn't care what the world thinks about her (think Olenna Tyrell from GoT and you're close), so she will be less likely to just snap at some one or run headlong into trouble. I mean, Dumbledore was ancient and although the man made mistakes and had emotional issues, he hid them well and kept a cool cucumber mask...most of the time. So it stands to reason that if Harry were to get to that age, have people who were able to knock some sense into his head that he too would be more controlled in is actions instead of being a two-hundred year old man in body but a teenager mentally.
> 
> Also also also, Harry may seem more like an OC because of lack of HP Magic in full. I did this because there is another HP character in here going with her and they will be capable of HP magic like they were in their old world. It would be a bit OP if Harry, a dragon, had full HP world magic too. Temeraire verse characters may be OOC in speech, mainly because I might forget to leave out/add in words or ways of speaking when doing their dialog. I have not done a fic in the Temeraire or any verse really that has the older, more proper way of speaking. Just point it out if you spot some dialog that needs fixing and I'll try to make it fit more with the story. References to sexual acts will be made and are there because life happens and it is part of world building, the world itself would be without depth if all the characters were seen as untouchable in some way, even in matters of the heart. Intimate acts will not shown, I'm rubbish at them, don't ask for any. Chapters will get longer and better as I go along.
> 
> Disclaimer:
> 
> I don't own the Harry Potter universe, J. K Rowling has that honor. Don't own anything to do with Temeraire, that wonderful Naomi Novik does. Although this isn't a multi-crossover fic, I may bring in references to other fandoms, such as recalls or abilities. I do not own any of the stuff I would be referencing and it would belong to the people who do own it. I will put ANs: on chapters with all the references I used if any. 
> 
> Rating: M - Just to be safe. Lots of battles, deaths, sicknesses, foul language and other nasty things that earn an M will be here.
> 
> 1\. I do not have a Beta, and I do use spell check but it does miss things sometimes, so if you find something that needs to be fixed (spelling, historical fact, canon event/information, formatting errors), give me a shout... 
> 
> 2\. I do not have a set time to update, this is for fun. I may update once every few days or weeks. But I cannot promise. I do have a life outside of fanfiction and am currently doing commission work to raise money for a move to get a job so this will always come before fanfiction.

Chapter One: In which an old life gets a new chance.

 

It was really quite warm where he was right now, so comfortably warm in fact that if it weren't for the oppressive feeling he was getting from his current place of resting, he would have very happily gone right back to sleep. The walls, floor, and ceiling of his abode were pressing heavily upon him so much that he had to curl in to a tight ball, head between his legs, just to be able to breath. Harry didn't like this strange situation; Not. At. All. It felt like a live mouse trap going wrong and he really wanted out of here immediately, to escape into a wide open space and stretch himself to his full size so as to work out all the very painful kinks in his system. How he had gotten in this mess was a huge mystery to the wizard, he didn't remember going into a small space at all. In fact, the last thing he did remember was leisurely walking down the grand staircase in Hogwarts, heading toward the feast he was sure was still in session...No, wait, that wasn't his last memory at all.

He WAS walking down the stairs, taking in the sights and remembering all the times he trekked this same path as a young man, but this time on the last landing before the ground floor, he moved wrong and misstepped, tripping on that long and tattered scarf Molly made him so many years ago...and he fell. The loud crunch of landing at an angle on the stairs, the severe pain lancing through his body when he hit a stair edge right in the center of his back...

The memories stop there after the vague sense of the castle's bond to her Headmaster seemed to fade into nothingness and Harry can only imagine it is because he had died. 'And quite spectacularly at that' he thought sarcastically, wiggling around in his small place and taking note of the extremely odd feeling of his tightly curled body.

It was completely the wrong shape for a human and Harry was not an Animagus, so was very used the shape of a human, and therefore clearly aware of his very much not human body. He now had too long a spine, legs felt like they bent in the wrong ways, something itched and rubbed on his back near his shoulders, and there was a vague sense of extra-ness where his tail-bone was. Harry also felt entirely off in another important department, instinctively knowing that he was now a she and didn't that just blow his mind?

So he is a she and she very much not a human, and somehow not dead, and was in some kind of box or cage; she was also being slowly crushed to death by said warm container. A muffled posh voice not far away from where she was held grabbed her sudden attention, causing her to wriggle much more violently in response.

"Damned if I know what to do with it! We already have one in harness and can't afford another! Laurence-"

"I know. But there is little to be done about it now, the egg is hatching-"

"Yes, yes, the beast is coming alright, and we've nothing to feed it! All the spare food is going to Temeraire. We don't even have anything to put on it!"

Harry kicked out in mild frustration, knocking hard against the walls of the ball shaped box imprisoning her. This wasn't fair at all! She some how escapes being dead permanently but wakes up in a much too small for her box, in a female body, surrounded by people who were worrying about some stupid egg hatching. Dear Merlin, she was in real danger of dying in here! A sharp crack signaled the start of a successful exit and the sudden chilly air and lack of voices was a tell-tail sign Harry had been heard. The hole was too small to see more than a bit of light and some brown grass, but the fresh air was wonderful on her skin and in her lungs. It smelt of salt and fish, and sweaty bodies.

"Well, any minute now..." said the tired voice Harry identified as Laurence, though she was sure it would sound different and not so muddled when she was out of this box, and then maybe she wouldn't be able to tell him from another unless he was very close. There was some shuffling of what sounded like shredded paper or the dried grass and more light, this time a flickering kind, could be seen just outside of the box. It cast an eerie pinkish glow into Harry's world, illuminating tiny red vein like shapes in the box's walls. Fear flooded the wizard turned witch...or whatever she was now, as the thought that boxes don't have veins flitted into her head. A hand landed softly on the wall she could see with the eye facing that side, and gently tapped the box with one finger without lifting the hand at all. She gasped deeply for breath, lungs feeling heavy with thick fluid that dropped from above her into her mouth and nose, the same fluid now leeching out of the box and into the grass. Her arms were trapped, pinned to her sides by her thighs and the overwhelming feel of claustrophobia set in.

"Pray, do wait, little one. We are only at most two weeks out from shore and then you will be safe to hatch there. But you must wait a little while longer!"

With a giant huff of utter disbelief and terror, Harry pushed out with all her might at the walls she was now quite sure was the shell of an egg. No way in hell was she going to wait two more days, never mind going two full weeks, to deal with this ravenous hunger! Plus her egg was way too small and she would suffocate for sure if she didn't hatch now! Letting out a small moan of despair at the thought of being a lizard of some sort - for surely she wasn't a snake or a bird, there were too many limbs for that - Harry gave one more great push against the egg, sharp cracking noises greeting her efforts, and ignored the shouts of horror as she tumbled triumphantly out into the greater world in a slimy mess of tangled limbs.

Laying on her back and taking great gulping breaths between coughing up mucus, the first thing she noticed about her new home was that there were two men in the room, dressed in very dated uniforms and looking quite ruffled at her quick hatching. She dismissed one of them as a threat without really looking at him, but the other looked like he could be a Malfoy, and therefore a threat. But after another look over she decided he had a kind air about him and an aura that commanded respect that Harry was sure he deserved. The second thing she noticed about her world was that this room seemed to be part of a large old ship, like the kinds the old pirates used to sail. The sounds and smells of the salty sea and fish, the size of the room, and the materials used in making this vessel were strong indicators of this truth. Plus it was rocking about as if in the beginnings of a storm, so either it was a ship on the sea or she was in some kind of flying contraption going over an ocean.

Though now that she really looked about, it was actually a smallish room that the walls had been knocked in to make larger, with the floor being covered in large amounts of hay and dirt. A huge crate with more hay and bits of egg shell sat just behind her up against a wall, probably to prevent it from sliding around over much. Claw marks raked the floor where her feet still scrabbled for purchase on the smooth wood. Now was the time for Harry's brain to kick in and decide that the room and people could very well wait while she checked out her new form; identity was very important you know. Turning her head back to look at her rear, she took in the sight of a long blackish gray, reptilian body with rather large for her size wings and a long thin tail. The wings were folded tightly to her sides and were a lighter gray than her main color scheme seemed to be. Small ripples of cobalt to royal blue danced over her scales in the light, giving her an iridescent shine that captivated the newly hatched dragon; for that was what Harry now possessed, the shape of a rather lean baby dragon.

Looking down at her feet and hands showed she thankfully still had five fingers and toes, though her feet and hands were a bit different from the ones she was used to as a human. The long tail and neck made for awkward maneuvering due to the ingrained need to stand up in order to walk about. Harry was sure that the two watching humans were no longer silent because of awe, but more now out of humor at seeing a dragon try to stand up and walk as a man does.

It was so weird being something that wasn't human and of course being female. Harry wished she could have been at least a bit human shaped and kept her male gender, then it wouldn't be such a shock all at once. But even now, with a great panic coming over her the instincts of the dragon were trying to assert themselves; it was fine, she was female and that was all there was to it. But her mind kept going back to the obvious WRONGNESS that was being the wrong gender from what she had been for almost two centuries; that shape change she could live with easier than becoming female. There was no use getting worked up over something she couldn't change, though it would be quite hard to just change how she perceived the world as she was sure a dragon would see things differently than a human. And a female dragon even more so if Charlie's words about the females being nastier than the males was true.

A loud thump from the ladder on the other side of the room brought Harry out of her thoughts and into a fight or flight reaction. She darted from her previous resting spot to the open crate in the blink of an eye, burying herself under the extra hay as best she could, and peeking out at the intruder with narrowed eyes, nose flaring slightly. Slowly the shadowed thing squeezed itself into the hold, seemingly oozing down the ladder and onto the floor with a strained grunt. It was hard to see from here what it was in the dark, but as it came into the light from the candle the Malfoy still had in hand, Harry got a good look at the newcomer.

It was another dragon, a male by the scent of him, one like her in shape but darker in color overall, shorter and stockier in body too, for Harry was longer and leaner by a small amount.

'A sibling maybe?' she thought with a bit of happy curiosity, crawling out of her hiding spot with hesitant steps, eyes darting from the other dragon to the two humans who were now watching the possible fight in the making with wary looks. Neither of the men seemed inclined to step between the two dragons, but the Malfoy copy looked worried every time Harry made eye contact with the male dragon. So, he was protective of the little male, interesting.

"OH! Hello!" the male dragon exclaimed loudly, making Harry jump at the volume. The other's larger form trotted over to Harry with near puppy like enthusiasm. She hissed viciously in answer, coiling up like a defensive snake and fanning her wings out in a makeshift frill, not an instinctive action, but one of mimicry that she witnessed in the Eastern breeds of dragons in her home universe. They had frills and manes around their heads that were puffed up when the dragon felt threatened and Harry tried to copy that effect with the wings in hope of looking bigger and not prey to the other dragon.

She had no idea if this was something a dragon here did, and she was positive now that she wasn't in her old world. Having dragons on ships, especially Muggle ships at that, with no magic in the air at all told her she was well and truly screwed; being a powerful wizard could allow you feel the ambient magic in the world, and there was a void like aura here in this one. It was totally without magic or at least any kind Harry was familiar with.

The other dragon reared in fright with an indignant squawk, scuttling backward swiftly and tripping over himself in the process. Harry's mind came to a screeching halt when she fully registered that the dragon actually spoke to her... In English! So shocked was she that her wings drooped and her coils slackened, exposing her head in full to the newcomer. He was fascinated with her that much was clear, even scared as he was of her she still had him staring at her in a way that made Harry think she was the first dragon he has ever seen aside from himself.

'You speak?' she hissed, before almost smacking her face in irritation at the Parseltongue that left her. Here she thought that language had vanished forever and instead it was coming back to mock her for ever thinking she was escaping it that easily. Damn you Tom, damn you.

"Er, I don't understand" the larger male voiced, tilting his head to the side and smiling slightly. "Is that a new language? Can you teach me?" Excited once again, the male dragon almost trampled Harry underfoot when he tried to take a seat next to her while she was in the process of uncoiling. There was no real danger from the other dragon right now, or so it seemed that way, so there was no need to keep being a bitch towards him; time to make new friends and figure out where the hell she was. And when, for these ships were old but also new, and the manner of speaking was old, as was the dress. She was most certainly in the past, but just how far back?

"Temeraire! My dear, come away, you mustn't crowd him so!" the Malfoy look-a-like started, his voice sounding a bit like the Laurence she heard in the shell, reaching out toward the male dragon, Temeraire, to move him away with the hand not holding the melting candle. But the surprisingly agile Temeraire just danced away from the man, coming to a rest behind Harry with a funny look on his face.

"She, Laurence." he stated, tilting his head like a bird this way and that. Harry blinked at the human, so he was Laurence, and then back at Temeraire with confusion plainly seen on her face. So the humans were not surprised that dragons could speak?

"I beg your pardon?" Laurence inquired of Temeraire, again reaching out to him, but this time only to lay his hand on the head of the dragon as if to keep him rooted to the spot.

"I am a female he means" Harry answered, back to observing her scales and wiggling a bit to make the light dance, casting the blue sheen about. Temeraire was in awe of her colors, poking her side with a forepaw and making soft 'oohs' with every new wave of color that showed up. Both dragons relaxed and admired the sparkling effects of the light as it bounced off the scales and reflected onto the floor.

"Oh, well, I am dreadfully sorry my dear, to have called you a him." Laurence looked a bit out of sorts now, wringing his hands together and casting glances at the ladder that lead to the deck. The other man in the room moved quickly, almost running to the exit and climbing up the ladder with a shout of "Get some rope to make a harness! And some one get down here to claim it, the other one finally hatched!"

Harry didn't like the sound of those orders but was distracted from making a plan when Temeraire brightened up and showed Harry his harness.

"Laurence is my Captain! He won me in a battle, he took my egg from a French ship. Your egg was there too!" he said, pointing at Harry and bobbing his head.

"Yes, but unlike your egg, Temeraire, her egg looks to have been rescued by the French from some pirates. The writing on her crate was possibly Japanese or so I'm told. The pirates must have stolen the egg from a Japanese ship and then made the mistake of attacking the French vessel. That or the French took the egg from the Japanese ship themselves, we just assume pirates were involved because there is little chance that the French attacked a ship of a nation they are not currently at war with. The French will not tell us about the egg though, I'm afraid."

Harry shrugged in indifference and laid down on the floor, exhausted from the hatching but still quite hungry. "Might I have some food now? I am very hungry!" she chirped, looking over at Temeraire, who had perked up at the thought of food being brought down. Although she was bothered by this whole French war that seemed to be happening, there was no reason to brood on an empty stomach. Laurence appeared uneasy for a moment, but relaxed when a young lad came clambering down the ladder, rope harness slung over his arm and a bucket of fish in one hand.

"You can eat after you accept this harness from young Mr. Carver here." The young man waved nervously at her "You must understand, dragons need a Captain, otherwise they are labeled feral and have to be seen off to a breeding ground" Laurence added after seeing Harry's skeptical look toward Mr. Carver. "He does not look like he enjoys the idea. He doesn't even seem to like dragons" she stated, moving away from the humans and closer to Temeraire for protection. Both men exchanged a look at the dire situation; they managed to get Temeraire in harness but now it looks like they might still have a dragon going feral.

"Can I not just take the food now and wait for a better Captain?" Harry asked, not at all planning to actually take a Captain; it seemed a bit like the humans would then own the dragon like one does a horse or a dog. She had not bowed to the whims of the Dursleys, nor to Voldemort or the Ministry, she was not about to do so for some random Muggle soldier nor matter their rank. Being a dragon and not being allowed the freedom to be a proper dragon was a horrible idea!

The men looked utterly stumped, the thought had clearly never crossed their minds before now. "Well that isn't, that is to say, I've never heard of a dragon refusing the harness until a later date. If a dragon refuses the harness right out of the shell, then they never intend to take it at all!" Carver said, holding up the web of rope and buckles for Harry to inspect.

She sniffed disdainfully at it and gave both humans a withering glare. "I don't want him. I will wait" and she wiggled off to the crate, plopping down into it with a huff. Carver went over to the other side of the room and set both the bucket and the harness down on the floor, before taking a seat against the wall and waited, watching Harry for any sign of caving into their demands. The young man did look a bit put out that the dragon vocalized her dislike of him, but his scent suggested he wasn't as upset as he appeared. Laurence ushered a vehemently protesting Temeraire out of the room and back on deck just as a fairly large wave hit the side of the ship, tilting it to one side and then tossing it to the other.

Harry fell asleep with a rumbling stomach and didn't wake till mid afternoon the next day. She could hear people up on the deck complaining about the massive storm they had last night. When she opened her eyes, she noticed that her crate had some water in it but that the hay was keeping most of it from her body. And that Carver had been replaced by another younger man, this one sleeping peacefully on the soaked floor next to the bucket, but not so close that Harry couldn't sneak some food if she was daring enough. But the idea of being sent off to a breeding ground kept her laying there, staring at the food with a sad look.

"You can have some you know, you just have to let me put this on." The now awake young man held up the harness and sighed at Harry's negative shake of the head. "Can I choose another Captain later? Or is this a permanent affair?" she asked, puzzling the boy and bringing the attention of one William Laurence - Temeraire spilled the beans on that one last night during his protests of being removed - as the man climbed down the hatch.

"That is a good question, my dear, I do not think we have the answer to that though. Pray, if you take the harness for now and promise to listen and stay on the ship, you can eat now and even go on deck with Temeraire." he answered, indicating toward the harness with a pleading look. With a great put upon sigh Harry got up onto wobbly legs, sloshing the thin layer of water on the floor about with each step, and made her way over to the boy and harness, letting the apologetic young man attach the thing and then give her the bucket to eat from. She spent the next hour eating in the hold and then later answering questions put to her by Laurence, who was interested in a lot of things, mainly what languages she spoke.

"Japanese for sure, so you are probably right about the crate being from Japan. Some German though not much, English of course. Very little Chinese...OH! and French." She nodded and flourished her wings, catching the wind and sea spray in them. They had taken her up onto the deck after her meal for the light interrogation. Many of the younger members of the ship were trading off in taking care of her (guarding her) as it was now well known that although she had taken the harness as a promise to serve to the corps, she hadn't chosen her real Captain yet. Surprisingly, many of the young men were not too bothered by this. Some seemed happy to pretend she was theirs right now, but the idea of having to give up a life they knew and take care of a dragon for the rest of their days seemed to be one they weren't prepared to take on just yet.

"But what about that hissing one? The one you spoke when I startled you." Temeraire laid down next to her, placing his head down to look smaller and less threatening when he spoke.

"That is Parseltongue, I don't know where it comes from, but snakes speak it." Harry shrugged, it was a mistake to speak it, but the cat was out of the bag so she had to come up with something. Dragons could learn languages in the shell, it was how Harry learned Japanese, French and Chinese. The German was Krum's fault as it was part of a bet during a drinking game when Harry was younger; if he lost, he had to learn passable German... and he lost. If push came to shove she could always say it was in her early days in the shell that she heard the language and was told by those speaking it that they were snakes and the language was Parseltongue; maybe they would assume it was something she heard in Japan.

"Can you teach me this language?" the other dragon asked shyly, turning his head to keep Laurence in view while still watching Harry. It was cute how the little dragon would always know wherever Laurence was on the ship, and if he didn't he would seek him out. "I do not know, but we have nothing but time until we reach port, so I suppose we can try." Temeraire wiggled excitedly and shouted over to his Captain that he was going to learn a new language, and Harry smiled secretly as she thought 'This life may not be so bad after all'.


	2. Headaches abound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer:
> 
> I don't own anything to do with the Harry Potter universe, J. K Rowling has that honor. I also don't own anything to do with Temeraire, that wonderful Naomi Novik does.

Chapter Two: In which the corps gets a pack of migraines.

 

Harry gazed out at Funchal with a feeling of supreme awe and contentment. Just over three-weeks at sea, spent mostly fishing with Temeraire, swimming along side the Reliant as the ship ripped through the waves, and teaching both Temeraire and his Captain some of the languages she knew, had finally come to an end. And it was only now, as she looked upon her first real example outside the Reliant and her crew, that she really let the information she learned so far sink in. The past was alive, teeming to and fro about the city like they had not a care in the world; history was happening right here in front of her, never mind it was an alternate history than that of her own world, it was still fascinating.

Harry smiled a bit and lay down on the deck of the Reliant, now able to do so without much difficulty seeing as Temeraire and Laurence were out at the field that they would be occupying until further notice. Harry herself would have to remain here on deck until she could be escorted to where ever she was to go in order to get a Captain. The thought of Captains still bothered her, and she wondered what a Captain might name her, as she still called herself - at least mentally - Harry, and didn't really want to part with the name. But Harry was a name that didn't fit a female dragon, and she couldn't very well name herself or they would get ideas about her being a feral. Many names had been tossed in her direction just so they didn't have to keep saying 'that other dragon' or 'the female dragon' all the time. The one that really stuck out was Stella, one that Captain Tom Riley gave her when he noticed the white speckling on her sides and wings; she looked like she was carrying the night's sky on her body. Although Harry let them use this name, she didn't really think it suited her; what happened if those speckles faded as she got older? Then what?

It had been a few days since they made port, and would be a few days or weeks yet until the Reliant can actually leave. Not because of Harry having to remain on board or because they had orders to stay, but because the ship had taken some damage in a nasty storm on the way. The storm alone was bad enough to encounter, but to have two strong young dragons on deck during such a storm, especially since one wasn't mentally an adult in a baby's body, was just asking for serious trouble.

During the storm, Temeraire had gone off ship to save a crew mate who had fallen overboard after a mighty wave crashed into the Reliant, catching the man off guard and sweeping him into the unforgiving sea. The rescue was a bit botched due to Temeraire not being that good at flying or landing yet, but still successful with no loss of life and no permanent injuries to anyone involved. But their luck didn't hold out when a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder startled the young dragon just as he was trying to duck down against the deck, and he instinctively flared his wings, catching the wind in them and tossing himself into Harry, who had tried to catch him, and then the both of them into the main sail. The hole that was punched into the sail cloth was a minor one, a problem that would only get bigger as the days after the storm went on and the wind lashed viciously against it.

The two growing dragons weighed the ship down even more, causing the hole to get bigger quite fast no matter the repairs done during the many lulls in wind-age. It was at this time that Harry realized there was no way that she and Temeraire could both sleep or sit on deck at the same time, so came up with a plan to have Temeraire fly as long as he could along side the Reliant while she slept or rested on deck, trading off with her when he got too tired to keep on. It was good exercise for both dragons and helped build their endurance up quickly, sometimes even taking empty barrels from below deck and filling them with water; this was to practice carrying more than the dragons' worth of weights. This did, however, leave both dragons tired with extremely sore wings and led to Temeraire almost drowning on multiple occasions due to exhaustion.

Harry discovered during one of these near drownings of Temeraire's that she could breath underwater; the rescue involved her clinging to the side of the ship while Temeraire, who couldn't breath underwater, used her as a step stool to get on board. Her being just as tired as the other dragon resulted in Harry loosing her grip after Temeraire was back on deck, plummeting down into the water, and taking a startled breath while submerged; here she learned that the water was like air to her. It took a while to calm the panicking Temeraire and Laurence, but both eventually stopped worrying that her water breathing would be a fluke and wear off after a time, allowing her to stay underwater longer to test out her skill.

The also learned that although Temeraire couldn't breath underwater, he could hover effortlessly, something that Harry could not do, and fly much longer than Harry could. This was used to point out that although there were similarities between the two dragons, it was obvious that they were not the same breed, or that Harry was a mixed breed of some sort at the very least. She was fast in the air but was much faster in the water, gliding through it like a hot knife through already melted butter. She also had a very neat ability to echo locate while underwater, though she had to describe it as how Dolphins and bats hunted with sound as the word sonar had no meaning to them yet.

Many of her hours were spent underwater either alone, or with Temeraire bobbing on the surface and her under him, both trailing after the Reliant while she 'pinged' it with her sharp chirps, imagining herself a submarine on the prowl looking for other subs and large ships to take down. It was a very amusing game and she had yet to tire of it even now, weeks later, as she lay on the deck looking out at the sea, Harry wished she was in the ocean, chasing down some random boat and pinging it for a fake kill. She watched the many birds fly low to snag something off the docks around them, some even being brave enough to steal food or shiny things from the people walking on the streets nearby. Two brave gulls even pecked some fish out from between Harry's teeth while she dozed, sticking their beaks up under the reptilian lips to snatch a treat, before quickly taking to the air again in victory.

A happy call came from above and the dragoness rolled over with bleary eyes to see Temeraire hover near the Reliant while Laurence leaned around the dragon's neck to shout over to her.

"Come aloft, my dear, we have a meeting with a naturalist. He should be able to shed some light as to what breed the both of you are" he said with a smile in his voice.

Harry stretched her wings out and gave an experimental flap to shake off the sleep still clinging to her muscles, before kicking off and joining the now speeding away Temeraire. They landed just outside the city long enough for Laurence to attach a long, thick rope around her new harness and then attach that to Temeraire's own harness. It wasn't a fool proof way to keep her from escaping as she could easily snap the tow with enough force; it was more a way to let those who would see her flying without a rider know she was not a wild, man eating feral.

Once they were in the air again, Harry started questioning Temeraire on what he had been doing these past few days, eying his gold and pearl chain with some jealousy as she heard how he came to possess it. The adult human part of her knew better than to let such a small thing get to her, but the baby dragon part of her was in need of reassurance, that she was loved and wanted just as much as Temeraire. It did bother Harry a bit, that dragons seemed so hung up on needing a human partner or some kind of affection in order to live happily; were they specially bred to be this way? Or was there just an instinct to belong to a flight, and humans had just learned to use that instinct to their advantage by forcing young dragons to bond with a human the way they would another dragon in the wild.

"I am quite sure you will get something nice when you have a Captain. Do not fret, I will get something for you myself if they do not wish to or have no way to acquire the funds." Laurence assured, much to Temeraire's dismay. The young dragon harped on for the rest of the journey about Laurence being 'His Captain' and that he wasn't going to 'Let Stella steal his Captain'. Laurence was both amused and horrified at Temeraire's reaction, and promised that he wasn't going to become another's Captain, but that it would be quite unfair to their draconic companion if Temeraire had such a nice chain and she didn't because her Captain didn't want to buy her something or couldn't afford it.

Finally Temeraire calmed down just as they were coming in for a landing at the shore. Many people ran away at the sight of two dragons suddenly occupying the same beach as them, leaving towels, robes, drinks, and even some food behind in their hast to leave the area. A few children peeked out from behind far off trees or rocks, some even sneaking a wave at Temeraire, who stood up on his hind legs and waved back like the enthusiastic child he was. It brought smiles and giggles to the human children before they were bundled off by their frightened parents or guardians.

Harry ignored all the commotion and Temeraire's sad whines at the fleeing people, and flopped down on the sand, head resting just at the line where the waves lapped at the shore so that her chin was getting wet but the rest of her was still dry. A shout of joy followed by a loud splash made her open her eyes lazily, to spot a towering wall of water as it rushed toward her too quick for any dodging. She groaned aloud as the wave consumed her entirely, pulling the front half of her out into the sea when it retreated. She was so glad that one of her abilities was water breathing or she would have been left sputtering for air with probably little success in actually bringing any in.

"Ah, that was not suppose to happen" Temeraire said sheepishly, rubbing his nose in embarrassment with his right forepaw while the left helped him keep balance in the rough water.

Harry sighed and shook off, pelting the other dragon in the face with the water drops that came flying off her body in the act. "It is fine, just do not do it so close to me next time. Or do it to other dragons, they might not be able to breath underwater like I can." she shook her head in mild rebuke, watching a pair of humans approach from the drier parts of the beach. One was a very shocked Laurence, the other was unknown to her, but was probably the naturalist they had come to meet.

"Temeraire! Do come out of the water!" Laurence called over, almost trotting the last few yards to where the two dragons were resting. "Come over here and meet Sir Edward. Pray, do try not to get either of us wet in the process." the man added, noticing that Temeraire looked very near to shaking off the water like Harry had before they arrived.

"Hello!" Temeraire chirped happily, leaning over to stand eye to eye with Sir Edward. "Can you tell us what breeds we are? I am most excited to know!" he said, pulling his head back to look over at Laurence with a smile.

"Well now, I do hope I will be able to help in that aspect, yes. Though, if you could both be ever so kind and stand by that tree in the distance there, it might make things much easier for me. I will need an unhindered view of the whole of you to properly locate any identifying traits, you see." said Sir Edward, his eyes crinkling in a merry way.

"Oh yes, of course!" Temeraire wheeled about, kicking sand up in his hast, and trotted off toward the tree, leaving Harry to stare at Sir Edward for a moment in amusement.

"Hello, I am glad you were able to spare some time for this endeavor. I do hope something will come of this, so that we will not have wasted your time" she said in a low tone, so as not to worry Temeraire about wasting anyone's time; the poor dear was thoroughly afraid of bothering people with anything if he thought they were busy already.

"Oh no, my dear, it is quite alright, I assure you." the man waved off her words as Harry moved over to stand next to Temeraire. Both dragons had their wings unfurled and were beating them gently to shake off the excess water that still cling stubbornly to them.

A cry from the naturalist had Harry tucking her wings in and darting a look at Temeraire in worry, thinking something bad had been discovered. But Sir Edward did not look upset at all, rather he looked much like Professor Slughorn had whenever Harry brewed a potion perfectly.

"Do you recognize the breed, then?" Laurence asked, turning to look his dragon over in an attempt to spot what had set the other man off.

"No, not in the sense of ever having the pleasure of seeing his kind myself before. No, there are very few outside China who have! But the evidence is irrefutable, the number of spines on the wings and toes on his feet, why, this can only be a Chinese Imperial! Although, I cannot say what line, only that you have quite the prize on your hands!"

"Is that a good breed? Do they breath fire?" Temeraire asked at the same time Laurence repeated "An Imperial?"

Harry frowned in thought as she listened to Sir Edward explain about the breed and it's expected abilities; what was a Chinese breed of that high a caliber doing on a French ship? And what was she, an obviously Asian breed herself, doing on the same ship. Something was very wrong here.

"What did you learn about me, if I may ask?" she tilted her head at the two humans. Laurence started at her voice, her being so quiet had left him forgetting she was even there, while Sir Edward smiled apologetically and motioned for her to move a little bit away for him to look her over again. Harry hoped that the man had some kind of idea what she was and perhaps what kind of abilities she would have in the future. It would be good to know what to expect as she got older.

"Hmm, I cannot say for certain- OH MY!" The man waved her over frantically and asked her to fan her wings out again as he gave her feet and wings one long look over. Shaking his head, he gave a harsh, trembling exhale of breath; probably due to the over excitement.

"Laurence, I think she may be a member of Sui Riu breed. They are a Japanese breed of the water spitting variety. It is said in the old texts that these dragons could call upon the weather and bring massive thunderstorms down upon their enemies. But this is just myth. Their kind can breath underwater and swallow large amounts of water, to later expel it in great torrents like that of a storm. A good breed to have when engaging a fire breather for sure, but they are not good fliers, tiny wings you know, sticking to the lakes and open oceans, and can reach such great sizes that even the largest Heavyweights breeds in the world would be dwarfed."

Harry and Temeraire exchanged a look of interest at these words, Temeraire now unknowingly joining Harry's own thoughts in regard to her being on that same French ship as he, a Chinese Imperial.

"This is why I am hesitant to identify her as this breed for sure. Her wings are too large and her eye color is off, being blue-ish silver instead of white. And her body is only slightly longer than Temeraire's, when the breed is known to look like a sea serpent. Though perhaps she will gain some length when she matures if she is indeed of the Sui Riu. I am more confident with classifying her as a mixed breed of some Oriental origin, possibly another Chinese breed. We will have to keep an eye out for any changes that could help with tracing her line."

Harry blinked slowly and looked her near serpentine body over again. She was actually a fair bit longer than Temeraire, but with her being bunched up all the time it was hard to really see her size. But this was good news, with her being able to breath underwater and possibly spit said water at enemies, she was to be very valuable in battle. It would help greatly with her plans to leave the corps and be a free dragon in the future.

It was then that Sir Edward seemed to glance around in earnest for something before suddenly turning to Laurence with a startled look.

"Where is her Captain? And dear me, I do not think I even asked for your name!" Harry shrugged as best a dragon could while Laurence explained that she didn't have a Captain yet but had taken the harness as a sign of good faith.

"I do not have a name yet either, I am waiting for my Captain to name me, but others have called me Stella for my markings" she pointed out the faded white, star field like patterns on her sides and wings.

"Well I do hope your Captain gives you a name appropriate for such a lovely creature as yourself. It would be a great injustice if you were given a common name, especially if you turn out to be of a higher breed."

The rest of the day was spent wading in the deeper waters, both dragons lost in their own thoughts about the information they had received from Sir Edward. Laurence, after a small conversation, had escorted Sir Edward off to the man's hotel room so he could fetch some books that might be of some use to Harry and Temeraire. They had been gone for a time, Sir Edward returning with Laurence for only long enough to sketch a rough picture of both Harry and Temeraire for his new entries in one of his books. After reassuring a worried Temeraire that he would be back shortly, Laurence again left with Sir Edward after an hour of conversation about the difference between Celestials and Imperials, and other breeds of the Orient that Harry might be, but this time he was gone longer than before, and brought back a sheep for Temeraire, Harry having told them she wasn't hungry due to her fishing spree earlier that day.

"I was fishing before you lot brought me here. There are loads of them in the harbor." she assured, patting her full belly a few times to emphasize this fact.

Laurence and Temeraire then had a small water battle while Harry refereed from a large rock nearby. Laurence had wanted to clean himself of the sheep shit the animal had dumped as a last resort before being eaten, and had stripped to his birthday suit and scrubbed his clothes out before laying them to dry on a rock. The water war started when Temeraire splashed Laurence with a large wave of water when the man was sun bathing on that very same rock, and the Captain retaliated by hiring Harry's good help in splashing the offending dragon until he was able to get a good position in the water to take up 'arms' of his own. It was a fantastic battle, with large waves crashing about from Temeraire's attacks and loud screeches of laughter from said dragon when in the commotion of the waves dying down, Laurence would sneak behind and under the dragon to tickled the soft under arms. This happened so often that Temeraire had taken to moving from his last known position after 'firing off' a wave, so that Laurence had a greater distance to cover in order to get under Temeraire, and therefore a greater chance at being discovered before he got revenge.

"We should head back now, I think." The blond sighed a few hours later from his place on the beach, now fully dressed again, watching Temeraire glide in circles around where Harry was diving for fish.

"Must we Laurence? It is quite nice here." Temeraire protested with a pout, back winging to stay over a certain spot of water. Harry snorted at the ridiculous look the dragon sported as she walked out onto the beach, glancing back over her shoulder at where the sun was starting to fall from the sky.

"It is getting late, Temeraire. We should go before it gets too dark to see." she nodded firmly when Temeraire looked like he wanted to say something very negative about this idea. Temeraire gave a great huff and landed near Laurence, dipping his head down to get a rub between the eyes as a greeting. Harry yawned widely and stretched like a cat, getting into a bowing pose with her front legs out stretched in front of her, and then pulling her front in on itself to drag her hind end about the sand until she felt her hips pop, filling her with relief. Temeraire almost tilted his head upside down like a curious dog just to watch her routine.

Laurence gathered the dreaded rope up in his hands and tied each end to a dragon, then climbed up onto Temeraire, giving the dragon an affectionate pat to the neck as he settled between Temeraire's shoulders. Harry leaned her head over and nosed Laurence's leg, turning on the puppy eyes in hopes for a scritch around one of her ears. The man laughed softly and patted her nose quickly while Temeraire shot Harry a very immature look, tongue and all. They were soon gliding back to Funchal with the idea of dropping Harry off at the Reliant before heading back to the resting field for the night for a nice read, while Harry would be enjoying a game of ping the battleships before bed.

Of course their hopes for a quiet night were dashed when a loud bugling call sounded from above them. Temeraire again displayed his 'hovering death machine' maneuver when the call went out, so startled at the sudden noise that he forgot to warn Harry that he was stopping. Harry whizzed right by him with a snarl, snapping the rope in half from the force, and doing a tight loop around to face the new threat, which turned out to be another dragon high above them. With a loud hiss to answer Temeraire's tentative roar, Harry flew back to Temeraire's side just as the new dragon dropped from the sky like a stone, stopping along side them with an almost graceful jerk.

Both Temeraire and Harry eyed the other dragon in thinly veiled suspicion. Harry had timed her joining of the formation just right that she now had the smaller new dragon sandwiched between herself and Temeraire while still allowing all three dragons enough movement for flight. Now that the threat was contained, she inspected the little gray and white dragon, now known as Volatilus, curiously while keeping an ear on the conversation between the two Captains.

"I am three weeks and five days out of the shell. She hatched only two days after I did, but she does not have a Captain yet. She wants to wait until we are with the other Aviators to get a Captain! Is she allowed to do that? How did you meet James?" Temeraire fired off rapidly, and loudly, looking over at the little gray and his Captain.

Volatilus blinked a little slowly as if not sure what question to answer and then gave a small grin, "I was Hatched! From an egg!" Temeraire looked very confused with that answer but before he could say anything, James leaned over to look at Harry with a startled expression on his face.

"You mean to tell me she let you harness her but doesn't see you as her Captain? How does Temeraire deal with this?" the man choked out, eying both of the dragons with a critical look. Harry glared back at the man, not liking his tone when addressing her or how he was speaking to Laurence.

"No, I did not harness her. Another member of the Reliant's crew did, but she would not take any of them as her Captain. She has promised to take one when we are among other Aviators, though, fear not. She isn't a feral. Now any other questions you may have will have to wait until we are aground. Will you follow to our resting site or will we be heading back to yours? " Laurence sounded a bit colder now in tone than he had before, this James fellow had a hit nerve in his earlier questioning while Harry was busy looking little Volatilus over. Good, so it wasn't just her that noticed his odd behavior once he realized Laurence wasn't a proper Aviator yet.

"Of course, of course. No, let us venture to yours; I fear that the moment I set down near civilization I will be mobbed with people wishing to send parcels. Trust me when I tell you we will not be able to talk then" James said, patting Volatilus on the neck with a smile.

Laurence nodded sharply and gestured for Harry to give the other two dragons more flight room. "Temeraire, pray take the lead. Our field is to the south-west of Funchal." the Captain told Harry, though it could have also been the other Captain he was addressing the information to. The three dragons flew together in silence for a short while, with the only conversation being between Temeraire and Laurence in whispered tones. But eventually James was brought into the fold and the man seemed a little warmer now while he answered the many questions put to him by a curious Temeraire.

"Well, I don't know what the French were doing with two Oriental dragon eggs, but you can be sure that they, your dragons I mean, must be of great stock. I dare say that fight they put up when you took the ship would have been less fierce had the situation been any other. I do not see them loosing so many to protect two eggs of a common breed." James said, watching Harry and the more impressive looking Temeraire with an odd sort of gleam in his eyes.

"Well I hope they did not steal us. Or else we will have to worry about two more nations getting involved in the war. You can bet they would be very upset with England having two of their more important breeds in hand if the dragons were stolen." Harry said quickly, hoping to add some caution to the other Aviator's thoughts, just in case Temeraire and herself were acquired illegally; surely China and Japan, if she was a Japanese breed, would not let two members of higher breeds be used by members not of their own forces.

Even worse, England would be seen as stealing regardless as both dragons were not returned to their respective countries after hatching, harnessed or no. War could be on the horizon and Harry didn't think that the allies would fair very well with the Chinese and the Japanese targeting only England for the slight. Especially if France was given the eggs.

Harry drifted a little ways behind the other two dragons when everyone was suitably distracted on the topic of dragon care, keeping them in sight and hearing range but far enough ahead that she could pretend she was not being led to a place where there would be no real chance of escaping. She would be tied to some one, perhaps having no choice but to pick a terrible Captain, and then have to deal with whatever part of the war they ship her off to fight. She didn't mind fighting, hell she wouldn't mind joining England in the war against France if only she had a choice, but if she had to go into harness in order for them to consider her a non-feral and treat her like a person and not livestock, she wasn't too sure that here was the best place for her.

Perhaps there was a nation somewhere that saw dragons as equal partners, where the dragon could choose to carry people into war but not have to stay with those people forever, instead of forced war mounts to be harnessed or sent off to breeding grounds when they chose to not be tied to a human for life. Harry may be young right now, but she wouldn't stay that way for long. Indeed, she may have many decades or centuries of life ahead of her and those years would not be spent in dragon only encampments, fighting wars or being used as breeding stock if she could find better someplace else.

If she was to leave, now would be the time to do it, when her companions were so wrapped up in their own conversations that they were unaware of her dropping back more and more with each wing beat. It would hurt a bit, leaving Temeraire and Laurence, her first friends in this new world who really cared about her in some way, especially as she might not ever see them after today; if she managed to keep out of the war then they would surely never meet again. But if she did this whole Captain thing, got mixed up in another war and then lost them in a battle after becoming much more attached to the two of them... It just might be too much. She was finding it harder to think like a human the more she adjusted to being a dragon.

Being female was now only a minor itch in the back of her mind, sometimes only appearing when Harry compared a difference to when she had been male. True, things were harder to think about now when she heard phrases like 'going to the breeding grounds' or 'only good for breeding' as when she thought about herself in those situations, it sent a shiver of fear down her spine. As a male, she had been the one doing the penetrating, never taking it as there were some kinks he just wasn't into. All his partners over the years had been female as well, so even thinking about being the one that was to be penetrated, by a male, and then having to carry and lay eggs. It still weirded her out.

That might fade in time, perhaps it won't and only a strong emotional attachment on her end would make the deed tolerable, but even then the idea might be too weird for her; she may be a dragon now, but she had been a human before. Even putting genders aside, if she still had a human way of thinking later on in life, then there may be no hope for her in ever getting over the part where she had to mate...with a DRAGON.

The light of the sun was failing swiftly now, aided by the thick gray clouds that pressed in from all sides; she had no idea how much longer the flight would be and right now it would be very easy to slip away, before they got too close to the landing site for her to vanish. If she left now, no-one would be the wiser until Harry was far enough from their sights to prevent an immediate recapture. Her mind buzzed with possible outcomes to being a young, unharnessed dragon in unknown territory, during war times too. What if she was caught by the enemy? Though at this point in time, who was truly the enemy? She had no loyalties as a dragon. Indeed if she was to claim any, it would be to her dragon self's country of origin. But she had been British as Harry Potter, and was now in the hands of a British Aviator on the way to a place where she may be harnessed again by another British Aviator... Does that make her loyalties lean to England?

No, she was in a new world now, she needed to keep Harry Potter - and all that being Harry Potter the wizard and human entailed - and female-dragon-self separate, or else someone would realize she isn't just a dragon, and she shudder to think what would happen if they found out she was a time and dimension traveling wizard stuck in a dragon body. And seeing as she can do some very basic magic, like warming and cooling charms, a weak feather-lite, and seemed to still be able to use Legilimency to an extent, she would be very valuable indeed to whoever started to use such gifts to the fullest. She could use the temperature spells to help her crew and perhaps other dragon's crews, survive no matter the harsh environment. With the feather-lite she could carry many more men and munitions than she or any other dragon would naturally. And if used on other dragons, so long as there was a place to hold all the stuff, the nation with her under their control would be able to ferry whole armies on only a few dragons with little difficulty.

Harry was sure there were other spells she could use, though right now those four were the only ones she could use properly and with unnatural ease. She wondered if it was the fact that she was a dragon that made it so, or if the breed had anything to do with it. And while on the magic thoughts, Harry realized there was a sense of magic not too far from her, like that of a witch or wizard, that now she was on land or perhaps just because she was closer, stood out like a weak candle in pitch black night. She needed to find this person, or dragon if they were like her, as she may very well not be the first or only one of her world to get tugged here, for the magic felt like her old world's magic, like she knew the person who wielded it.

With a powerful pump of her wings, Harry pulled back away from the other two dragons and started winging it as fast as she could in the magical beacon's direction; hoping that wherever she managed to go next would be just as nice an area as the one she was leaving behind.

'And I hope it is someone I can stand to be around. Dear Merlin, please let it not be Malfoy or Snape!'


	3. An old friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longer chapter this time. Working on chapters four through seven now and as they are not refined yet, there will be lots of editing to do before I can share them. I don't know when they will be ready for posting but it shouldn't be too awfully long from now.
> 
> Still no Beta, so if there is any misspelled words, sentences that don't make sense, or ways of speaking that are missed/added, please let me know. I read over these a lot before posting them but I don't always catch an error.
> 
> Disclaimer:
> 
> I don't own anything to do with the Harry Potter universe, J. K Rowling has that honor. I also don't own anything to do with Temeraire, that wonderful Naomi Novik does.

Chapter Three: In which an old friend comes calling...

 

Days, that's how long Harry had been hiding in these forests from the English patrols. Twice now she had come close to being spotted because of arrogance, rushing about the grounds like a small child playing hide and seek with a parent, so sure of its ability to stay hidden. But this was so much more dangerous than a harmless game of hide and seek. Her darker colors were definitely helping here in the low light of the tree sheltered woods, but if she wasn't more careful with how she planned her movements during the day, Harry would be captured quite easily, and either put to the harness again or shipped off to the breeding grounds. 'Option two seems much more likely, as according to the conversations between patrol members, the heads in charge are very angry with me' she thought, quietly devouring this morning's kill, a straggler ram from a nearby herd of sheep. Harry had been surviving on scraps of food, sneaking into the towns at night and nicking what was left outside to be collected by whoever does the trash service these days. Boy would they be surprised at their lite loads come morning!

Rabbits, feral cats and even the occasional dog all became prey for the near constantly hungry dragonet; nothing was safe from her rumbling belly, except people, there were lines even she wouldn't cross just yet. In hindsight it was probably not a good idea to have lingered here for so long, as it seemed the patrols were much more active now then before; either the war was kicking up around here or some one noticed the large amounts of food stolen from the town's trash and the missing animals, both big and small. 'Again option two seems more likely' Harry mused, pulling herself up to observe the latest patrol units in the area this evening; a couple of Greylings and at least one Yellow Reaper could be identified right off the bat, she was unsure about the identities of the other breeds there.

She would have to leave tonight for sure, before someone got wise and started searching HER part of the forest, as so far they were sticking closer to the parts nearer the town; it appeared no one figured that a dragon might double back a few miles to get food instead of pressing on. They probably thought she was still on the other side of the town and would be boxed in by the groups in the trees.

'Not bloody likely' she mentally snorted. It was a new moon tonight, so Harry prepared to leave just as soon as the Greyling patrol switched off with their unknown replacement, that would mean she had under five minutes to dart through the area before the patrol coming from the other way passed by. Nights with moons were far more dangerous to her now that she had grown some, for she stood out even with her dark colors because of her shiny scales, like a wide, winged river dancing in the sky. Some times she cursed her beautiful coloring to hell and back as it was no good for hiding except in pitch black night or very deep waters.

It would be a long flight through Spain, which she could avoid by simply swimming the long way around toward London. She wouldn't drown or starve, and was perfectly able to process the salt from the ocean so water to drink wasn't an issue. It was being so close to the Allied water territories that bothered her. Harry would have to stay underwater for the whole bloody journey unless she wanted to be seen. Here on land she had trees to hide in, at least for now. But out in the open ocean, she would have to dive under to keep from being spotted, and water churning up a froth from a quickly moving dragon is a dead giveaway. And as she was closing in to being almost half the length of a frigate ship, she would be very easily spotted on the surface. Harry wouldn't even be heading toward Spain if it weren't for the fact that the magical beacon seemed to be in that direction, or on the other side of Spain, so North-North East was the way she must go.

The patrol passed by with very little noise from the crew, only the clink of metal from the weapons and harness, and the heavy breathing of the Greyling dragon, could be heard over the soft breeze. As soon as they were far enough away to not hear her wings, Harry gently lifted off and wiggled her tail in a slithering motion while she flapped her great wings to gather more speed. Experimentation with tail movement proved she could gain more speed by using her tail like a paddle through the air, helping her wings push against gravity; she figured it much like kicking your feet while using your arms to swim. Houses and farms sped by her, looking like nothing more than mere blurs if they had a light lit in the windows. Otherwise they were pretty invisible to even her good eyes. The sudden sound of wing beats reached her ears and Harry locked her wings in the glide position, allowing her tail to do all the work as it was mostly silent up here with the wind. A large form with lanterns hanging off the side flew under her, a few of the people on the back of the unknown dragon were using small flares to see the trees below, lighting the powder and dropping it before it popped.

The powder bags would fizzle out long before they hit the ground so there was little fire danger. Harry could now see large groups of people coming on foot from the north, heading back south where she had been hiding for all this time. Each group was carrying torches and were checking all the nearby barns or small forested areas.

She was lucky. If she had waited only an hour more before leaving, she would have been caught in their metaphorical net. Two more air patrols of unknown breeds flew by using the same powder flare tactics as the previous group and Harry was quite glad to be above all the patrols instead of under them; she would not be hard to spot if one of those little packets popped anywhere near her. This silent duck and dodge game continued for many hours, with patrol after patrol getting just close enough to almost see her, a couple even circling around again because they thought they heard extra pair of wings not of their group, or a smell that wasn't right. It was close enough to scare the dragonet into a panic, but they never really found the exact route she was flying; luck seemed to be with her for now as they kept missing her by just a hair each time they passed. The luck held out until Harry finally managed to make it to the semi-safety of open water, by which time she was more than just a little bit exhausted. She had spent more time traveling than what was necessary to actually make it to the sea, most of it was spent hovering terribly in mid air to avoid a sudden collision or doubling back to prevent crossing paths with a large group of either ground or air patrols.

It was just starting to get light out when Harry landed on the surface of the ocean with a soft plop, pulling her near useless at this point wings into her sides to rest them, and heaving for breath while she tried to calm her racing heart; that had been one hell of an obstacle course! She grinned smugly to herself in the small victory over her pursuers, paddling in the general direction of the magical beacon, which hadn't gotten any stronger during her flight, leading her to believe it was probably much farther off than she initially assumed. Her body was churning up a bunch of stronger waves from all the awkward shifting from her tired wings. A ship out on the open water suddenly sent up what she thought was a rather weak firework, startling her terribly enough that she let out a loud squawk in protest of her disturbed musings.

Swearing mentally at the stupidity of drifting off while still in enemy territory, she watched the crews on the ship send up more of the weak flares in frantic attempt to locate a possible enemy dragon. Shouting could be heard on deck as the ship turned in her general direction, and Harry dove quickly under water to keep from being spotted, beating her tail as hard as she could to get some depth before the ship could get over her position. The good thing about her being able to stay under water was that nothing in this day and age - except another dragon with water breathing abilities - could actually get this deep and find her. The bad thing was that she couldn't sense the beacon at all down here, the water some how muffling the feeling to the point of it being near non-existent, a vague 'in this direction maybe' was all she could get a feel for.

The water was much, much cooler down where Harry finally come to a stop, floating lazily in the same direction as when she was on the surface, hoping to get close enough to the source of the magic before she had to get back in the air again. Time seemed to crawl as she dozed in the busy but silent waters. Her body was suspended over the inky blackness below where she knew some rather soft sand and colorful coral lay if she only dared to swim deeper. Occasionally Harry would nip at some overly curious fish who would swim right up to her face, and nibble on the scales around her mouth and eyes. Some times she would roll over on her back and check the progress of the ships on the surface from their shadowy shapes; some clustered in flighty groups, others broken off into pairs or singles, apparently parked for the long haul. Not many were grouped together now, which means they either figured she was gone for good or that the squawk had been a false alarm, some kind of sea bird or something.

Harry took a deep steadying breath, marveling even now at the feeling of the cold water going through her system and not choking her; it was like her experience with Gilly Weed, but without the feeling of wrongness, the feeling that although you could breath under water, it wasn't natural. Here she never got the unnatural sensation, it just felt right to convert water into something her body could use for breathing. Though there were a few times in the beginning that Harry had taken a breath under water with her mouth open and discovered that if the flap in the back of her mouth wasn't at a certain angle, the water would rush into her lungs instead of being directed to wherever it is that the water goes for filtering. The flap had three positions she had noticed so far; air breathing, water breathing, and water pocketing. The last is what she called the gathering of water to store for spitting. The water would be squirreled away in pouches somewhere deep in her body, ready for action as soon as she needed it. So far Harry could only get about five gallons of water stored before she felt nauseous. Any more than five gallons and she started throwing it back up. She became aware of the fact that perhaps her spitting wouldn't be really ready or useful for more than hunting birds or punching holes in the sides of small boats, until she matured; disappointing of course, but not really important right now.

Her musing had helped to pass the time a bit more successfully then her fish-baiting had, and she quickly checked the now obviously later in the day ocean for any ships near her. Righting herself into an erect position, she twirled in place, scanning all directions for any movement on the surface that could be hazardous to her health should she go above. There was nothing in sight, not even a large bird or group of sharks. Harry decided to take the chance of being spotted if only to get her bearings before going under again. Slowly she swam to the surface, a stream of eager little fish trailing behind her and sticking to her sides, eliciting a few muffled laughs from the dragonet as they tickled her ribs and arm pits with their tiny mouths. Breaching was done by slow inches, leading with her nose and ending at the shoulders; everything else was not exposed to the air to assist in a quick get away if needed. From her new vantage point, Harry could see nothing but the seemingly endless ocean. No ships bobbing away in the waves, no birds swarming for a feed, or even distant land to be seen; just the powerful waves beating against her, tossing her this way and that like some bit of flotsam in a mild storm.

Speaking of storms, there was one rumbling away in the East, not far off in direction from where her beacon was pulsating. Distant thunder rolled after some magnificent flashes of lightning streaked across the cloudy skies. It was probably late afternoon now, with most of the early morning having been burned away with rest and mock chases, musings, and mini-snacks in the forms of small schools of unlucky fish too slow to avoid her snapping jaws.

A gust of wind brought a wave crashing down on her head, scattering the fish still clinging to her sides as the rough waters churned about. Harry shook the excess water free from her head and neck, blinking rapidly and sneezing out the little bit of water that had gone down the wrong pipe. She instinctively spread her wings out to help balance herself, helping in keeping her level and no longer being tossed quite so violently with every gust. 'It's really not a good idea to be up here in the middle of this' she thought, the wind was starting to pick up and catch her wings, jerking them nearly out of their sockets due to them being too weak with fatigue to fight back. Harry gently tucked her wings back again and tilted her head to locate the beacon's direction more firmly; if she was to be under water for most of this journey, she would need to be very exact in her pin pointing or this would be a very painful process.

With a heavy sigh she gathered herself mentally for the long and lonely trek across the ocean, to either a possible location of the beacon, or a very fantastic death at the hands of people who feared feral dragons. A vicious clap of thunder, much closer than the last few, had her swiftly diving to safety under the waves like some medieval depiction of a sea monster, rope after rope of scaled hide disappearing under the surface until nothing but foam was left in its wake.

*Time skip of a few weeks*

'Good lord that was something else' Harry sighed with relief as she pulled in to a calm patch of water. She finally made it to a quiet location that was very close to the beacon she had been looking for. What a trip of cocked up events and wonderful examples of Potter luck this turned out to be; if the British and their allies were unaware of her escaping via the ocean before all this fuckery, they most certainly weren't now. Not to mention anyone on the other side of the conflict, though they probably wouldn't really care, she would be seen only as an obviously non-native feral dragon breed, and on a route that would allow her to make land fall somewhere in the South of Spain. 'Ah yes, Spain...' Harry had a few near death experiences near Gibraltar when a few orange dragons decided to use her bobbing head as practice for their riflemen, not realizing there was a dragon at the end of that blackish, seaweed covered blob. They were very surprised to see most of the blob vanish under water after the first few shots got close to it, though they seemed to put it off as some kind of large sea mammal instead of a dragon, as they didn't panic when she disappeared.

Harry had taken to using the seaweed - and many other types of floating plant life - as a cover for her head whenever she would breach for directions, keeping her body stiff, tail pointing straight down so that she would not be spread out like a ribbon. This way only her head could be seen unless you were underwater, where then she would appear to be a pole sticking straight up out of the water. A very large pole. A very large and scaly, winged pole...

Whatever.

While she was smaller it had been much easier to pretend to be a whale, tucking her wings in tight to appear fatter and placing her arms close enough to her sides to make passable pectoral fins. Her tail had been a bit of a problem at first, but letting it drift under her body and stretching her legs out to make a fake 'whale's tail' had been enough to fool most ships and aerial groups from far off. Exhaling sharply to expel water into the air at times was a fairly good imitation at a blowhole, and if they tried to get closer, she would just dive swift enough to keep them from realizing she wasn't a whale.

But her size, mainly her length, now would prevent such disguises from working; she could be nothing but a dragon.

Even with all the problems she's had in the last...well, however many weeks its been since she left that dratted island and her only friends, Harry still counted herself lucky. Lucky that the riflemen she encountered were so bad at hitting her seaweed covered head, lucky that she was still free after so many close calls with roaming ships, lucky all the sightings of her that the many ships had managed to gather were heading in the wrong direction, as she had been getting turned around while navigating under water; everything looked the same down there, with nothing but the types of fish changing out every so often to let her know she was even going anywhere new. Now she floated quite a ways off the coast near Marseille, resting her legs and tail for a bit.

Many French ships sailed around her in perfect unison, as if in training for battle. 'which they very well might be' Harry mused, watching as one group of rather large ships seemed to be doing some kind of dragon repelling exercise, being mock attacked by two rather good sized French dragons of an unknown to Harry breed; their black hides being covered in stripes of either blue and green, or bright yellow. They would dive at the ships with murder in their body language, only to jerk up quickly at the last second before they could slam into the decks, allowing their crews to throw what looked like bags of flour at the sails and decks of the ships as they peeled away for another run. It was very interesting to observe, even from this far off, the mechanics of the French battle dragons when engaging sea opponents, never staying in one spot for very long, and doing as much 'damage' as they could in what little time they had. The ships would 'attack' the dragons with puffs of smoke that smelled suspiciously of chalk powder, launched from the sides and deck of the ships as the dragons got close enough for their crews to aim. This resulted in a lot of yelling back and forth, from ship to dragon crew, every time a dragon got marked for getting too close, shown by the large patches of white on their otherwise darkly colored bodies. Training was obviously not going well for these new recruits.

Harry was so caught up in watching the fascinating combat scenarios before her that she didn't notice some movement off to her left side, one of the large black and yellow dragons was leaving the deck of a ship not involved in the exercises. The dragon had been resting on the observing ship after doing their own runs, and didn't make a lot a noise when it lifted off, heading right toward where Harry floated, buried under her seaweed disguise. It would be one of the many times, when she looked back on her life later, that she would berate herself for not keeping up with the Constant Vigilance motto; especially seeing as the dragon was pulsating with the very thing she had come all this way for...magic.

"You are hiding very well down there. But not well enough, come out of there, spy, or I will fetch you myself!" came the victorious shout from above Harry, the booming voice belonging to a male dragon that sounded like he was very used to getting his way with little fuss from others.

Harry reacted immediately in the opposite to what the other dragon wanted, ducking under the water and taking a very deep gulp of the liquid around her, storing it in her pouches in case there were dragons that could come and get her. A startled yell was muffled by the amount of water between Harry and the speaker, but the splash of a large dragon hitting the water after a failed attempt at grabbing Harry could be heard quite well. Circling around below the fallen dragon, Harry took stock of the fact that this dragon was much bulkier than she was, even though she out classed him in length by a bit, he would definitely be a hard won prize if she had to battle him even in her element of water. Like the other black and yellow dragons in training there, he was fairly young in age, though not as young as she was. She swam a little bit away from the dragon and crew before sticking her head out of the water, watching in amusement as the crew laughed at their dragon for thinking the seaweed was a spy.

"There was a dragon here! I saw it! I can smell her!" he protested, sounding very much like a little boy who was being picked on for being scared of something silly. Harry's eyes widened as she felt a pull in her magic and noticed the flare of the magical beacon she had been hunting, flashing brightly now in front of her. It was on the pouting dragon's back, standing near the shoulders and cooing at the distressed beast as the crew continued to jeer. The Captain of this dragon was a witch! A witch from Harry's own home universe! And one she would know anywhere just by looking at her, she didn't even need to hear her airy voice to identify her.

Reason left Harry entirely at this moment; one of her dearest friends as the wizard known as Harry Potter was sitting only a few yards away, and was obviously still Luna Lovegood, no matter the change in national loyalties. The sea dragon decided that she would very much like to have her dear old friend on her side, even it it meant Harry would be caught, harnessed and forced to fight. Even the fact that Luna was fighting for a current enemy of the British didn't stop Harry from expelling water loudly from her nostrils to attract the attention of both the dragon and his crew. She rose up out of the water a bit, to give them a good look at her without seeming hostile by looming like some great sea serpent out for a quick meal. The male dragon wheeled around in the water, crying out in surprise and glee once he spotted who was responsible for the noise, while his crew scrambled for their weapons, readying for a fight.

"Oh, hello there pretty one. Are you looking for something? I'm afraid you are trespassing here, so I'm going to have to ask you to come with us now." the Captain of the French dragon said, brushing her dirty blond hair from her face as she spoke. Harry snorted in amusement, shaking her head a little as she drifted closer to the other dragon. Smiling as best she could at her human friend while not looking like she was going to eat her, Harry answered back in French, "Oh that is alright, I was only watching them fight because I was bored. They are very interesting, your friends."

"I told you she was a spy, I could see her hiding under the plants" the male dragon said, pulling himself up and out of the water with a few great beats of his wings. Harry frowned at his words, curling her lips up to display her teeth in anger "I am not a spy. I am lost. I have wandered far and spent many weeks seeking some place to belong."

The other dragon grumbled petulantly "That is exactly what a spy would say. They would not admit to being a spy at all!"

Luna smiled calmly at Harry for a moment while her dragon positioned himself above the water spitter, then gave some inaudible over the waves order to a few of her crew. Ropes dropped down from the circling dragon, and four Frenchmen, young boys almost, come sliding down them. One would swing down onto Harry's back every time the male dragon was right over her, until all four were planted firmly on her back with large ropes and medium sized swords in hand. They all seemed stumped to see there was no harness, nor a crew anywhere in sight and started shouting up at Luna and the rest of the crew in confusion.

"There is no one here! She must be a feral!" one of the boys near Harry's shoulders called up, taking one of the heavy ropes in hand and looping it as best he could around the thick neck of the sea dragon. Harry had to reach up and help him finish the job, surprising him and the other young ones on her back. 'Well' she thought, deciding to humor them for a while 'no need to be rude, I can get away at anytime really. And he was having such difficulty getting that rope on.'

There was some happy muttering from the other crew members on the French dragon, some sounding hopeful about Harry's obvious youth; perhaps thinking they had a chance in harnessing her themselves. 'HA! No.' she smirked, slowly swimming in a circle to match the flight pattern of the other dragon so as not to loose sight of Luna. Said witch was giving more orders to both her crew on her dragon and now the ones on Harry, before motioning for Harry to join them in the air, having noticed that the dragon had a pair of large working wings so was quite able to fly.

"Come, join Clotaire in flight, we have a little way to go before we can talk." Luna said, indicating the far off shoreline, where the ships that had been in the mock battles were now forming a chain of defense, like a wall between the open sea and the beaches behind them. All the other dragons were now circling over the water just in front of the ships, watching Harry and Clotaire as they rose together high into the sky. There were shocked gasps and murmurs of awe as more and more of Harry left the water, stretching out like a very thick shimmering rope, looking very much like a waterspout as she neared the lower level clouds. Just when they thought she would never end, her tail lifted out of the water and lashed the air around her, giving her a burst of speed that brought laughter from the boys on her back and shouts of worry from both Clotaire's crew and that of the crew of another nearby dragon; evidently they thought she was trying to get away.

"Where did you come from, to be so different from the other dragons here? Oh, I am very sorry! What is your name?" one of the boys, the one whom she helped put the rope on her, asked timidly. She frowned for a moment, not sure how to answer him seeing as she didn't know for sure herself, before settling on a bit of truth and lie.

"I do not have a name, I am waiting for a proper Captain to give me one, and I think I came from China, or Japan. I remember both languages from when I was in the egg. A mixed breed of both nations perhaps. But I hatched on the sea, on a ship during a battle, some time ago and not too far from here" a lie really, as she hadn't been anywhere near here, nor in the middle of a battle, but they didn't need to know exactly where or under what circumstances she hatched. The boys all nodded and made impressed 'oh' sounds, each sizing one another up in a silent challenge of who would attempt to harness her. More dragons were gathering around now as Harry neared the shore, closing off all the possible escape routes that Harry could take.

Clotaire looked interested at that information, flying closer now and bobbing his head happily while he spoke. "So, you are a very valuable breed then? The Emperor will be most pleased!" This sentiment was echoed all down the line by the crews of the other dragons that had joined the escort. It was at this time that Harry's predicament really sunk in, being surrounded by French dragons and boarded by French Aerial crews, that she was in deep shit; she had no chance of fighting for England, or anyone other than France now, not unless she found a way to talk Luna into deserting, which would be a very hard thing to do as Luna was a very loyal person at heart. 'But really, what choice do I have? I can either fight for the French, or run and if I survive, hope Luna will come with me. Maybe we can go to China, they might like to have me back if I am one of theirs. Or Japan...' She was really starting to hate that impulsive streak she had right now, she could have waited until Luna and her dragon were alone, either on patrol or during the night when others were sleep, before approaching. But Harry was so happy to finally see an old face from her old world, one that she was friends with, that she just couldn't wait to speak with them.

"What breed are you, if you don't mind me asking? I have seen many British dragons and some Spanish ones, but I don't know any French breeds." Harry inquired, looking at the many black dragons around her with green and blue stripes, and the few like Clotaire that had yellow stripes instead. Many of the other larger dragons, some grey with white speckles, and others grey and brown, shifted their eyes about, looking very much like they were trying hard not to answer her. Perhaps it was like top secret information in their minds, and she was an unknown, possibly an enemy, dragon.

Clotaire puffed up with pride - causing all the dragons near him to groan in defeat - and nodded toward the other yellow striped black dragons. "We are Flamme-de-Gloire. Great Fire breathers for the Emperor! The others with the blue and green markings are Papillon Noir, they are our decoys. Their colors are sometimes covered with yellow paint to cause confusion in the enemy."

Harry blinked slowly as she digested this information with growing horror. She was surrounded by extremely pride-stuffed, overly bloodthirsty, brightly colored, very large, flame-throwing menaces! And there was no way she was going to be able to spit enough water at all of them to take them out long enough for an escape, at least not yet, she was still growing so there was hope to be had for future endeavors.

Landfall was a fast affair after that discovery, with many of the French dragons landing right on the beach, forming a pen of sorts with their bodies to keep Harry from wandering further inland than they wanted at the moment. Some of the dragons stayed aloft, spiraling in tight circles above her to prevent an aerial escape. People from all the dragons presently grounded started to crowd around her, each one gaping at the sheer size difference of this young dragon compared to their older large breeds, some even went so far as to stand next to her in order to get the full effect. Luna waved most of the people away to make room for Harry and dropped down off of Clotaire just as Harry's feet touched dry sand for the first time in possibly months. Clotaire's Captain wandered over, still smiling at Harry with her typical dreamy look, and ran her hands up and down the shaking scaled legs and arms that the sea dragon possessed, her magic reacting positively to the dragon's own. Harry noticed a knowing look starting to take hold in Luna as she looked up into the Oriental's eyes; she knew Harry wasn't a plain old dragon, and that she wasn't from here, even if she didn't know who Harry was. It was quite difficult to stand right now, what with her legs not used to walking with all those weeks at sea; holding her own weight up was becoming swiftly tiring.

There came a sudden commotion from the back of the group and an older, hawkish looking gentlemen who had been Captaining a rather large, gray and brown dragon, stepped forward with a frown on his face. Luna sighed and stepped forward as if to intercept the man before he got started, but was too slow to keep him from launching into a tirade.

"What is happening here, where did this beast come from?" he snapped, looking Harry's lithe frame up and down with a sneer, as if to judge her worth on looks alone. "It doesn't even look like a fighting breed! Or even a proper dragon at all, one good hit would snap it in two! It is obviously a feral and therefore not a threat to us, you are wasting valuable training time by bringing it ashore!"

"HA! You are mistaken! I would not snap so easily, little man. I am a fine specimen, of a grand Orient breed. I should toss you in the sea for your disrespect, just keep on and see if I do not!" She hissed back, lowering her head to meet his eyes, though it was a chore now that she was so large.

The large grey and brown dragon growled at the perceived threat to his Captain, and made a swift movement to pin Harry down on the ground, rushing from the back of the group with two of his smaller grey and speckled fellows following suit. Harry reared back with an angry snarl, her motion startling the other dragons near her into a fight or flight reaction, with many of the younger ones choosing flight over being crushed by the larger serpent dragon. Those who chose to fight were frozen in their tracks as she opened her jaws wide and let out a torrent of heated water, hitting the group of dragons in front of her, knocking the smaller ones off their feet and a few yards back, while only knocking the larger ones over for a few short seconds. It was enough to strike fear in the other dragons though, almost all of the fighter group took to the skies in worry, others simply snatched their captains up and backed far enough away from Harry to be safe from her wrath.

Silence reigned for a long while, broken only by the deep livid breaths from Harry, and the soft coughing and sputtering of the drenched dragons in front of her. No one was saying anything, too shocked from seeing a dragon practically vomit up what seemed like half the ocean on their military, to great effect. One of the smaller dragons was making Harry uncomfortable with his deep scrutiny, his crew were all starry eyed as they surveyed her, mouths opening and closing like beached fish.

A sudden loud exclamation of awe and wonder from a random Frenchmen in the back, and a declaration of pure undying love from Clotaire, set the mood into one of great humor. People rushed up to Harry then and patted any part of her that they could reach, looking over her form with new eyes and chattering about the grand force the Aviators would be once she was harnessed and trained. Harry internally groaned at her constantly resurfacing stupidity; hopefully this teen-aged recklessness would stop when she matured or she was going to be in a lot of trouble. She was an adult mentally for Merlin's sake! Over a hundred years as a wizard, a powerful wizard who had mastered the deeply mysterious air and calm all-knowing nature that Albus Dumbledore had always projected; there was no reason for this rash of angsty decisions, as if she were still in fifth year with a broody Dark Lord in her head.

'Oh, and now I have to take a French Captain and crew too, lovely. No way I can talk them into leaving even if Luna would run with me'


	4. In which dragons have opinions...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longer chapter this time. Still working on filling in the chapters, which is surprising easy right now, but I don't know how long the muse will keep. Also taking a crunch course in Korean (to become fluent as fast as possible) so I will have to spend most of the day (for the next month or so) doing the lessons and stuff, which in turn means less writing.
> 
> Still no Beta, so if there is any misspelled words, sentences that don't make sense, or ways of speaking that are missed/added, please let me know. I read over these a lot before posting them but I don't always catch an error.
> 
> Disclaimer:
> 
> I don't own the Harry Potter universe, J. K Rowling has that honor. Don't own anything to do with Temeraire, that wonderful Naomi Novik does. Although this isn't a multi-crossover fic, I may bring in references to other fandoms, such as recalls or abilities. I do not own any of the stuff I would be referencing and it would belong to the people who do own it. I will put ANs: on chapters with all the references I used if any.
> 
> Rating: M - Just to be safe. Lots of battles, deaths, sicknesses, foul language and other nasty things that earn an M will be here.
> 
> 1\. I do not have a Beta, and I do use spell check but it does miss things sometimes, so if you find something that needs to be fixed (spelling, historical fact, canon event/information, formatting errors), give me a shout...
> 
> 2\. I do not have a set time to update, this is for fun. I may update once every few days or weeks. But I cannot promise. I do have a life outside of fanfiction and am currently doing commission work to raise money for a move to get a job so this will always come before fanfiction.

Chapter Four: In which dragons have opinions...

 

Marseille had been a very nice city to see from aloft, even if only just long enough for the few dragons and their crews - who were escorting Harry to Paris - to get their orders. Harry was asked to land outside the city by a few miles, making sure that the people of said city would be safe from any possible attack that she might unleash upon it if she wasn't as docile as she appeared. But she refused, of course, as she wanted to see at least one city of France before the fighting really began; she had no idea when she would be allowed near any of France's cities while she was here, if at all, for she knew they - the French command - wanted her shipped out of the country to help bolster the numbers at a few of the war fronts nearby. Harry had ignored all the escort dragons' attempts to make her land, ignored the worried young men on her back and the shouting people from the ground when she flew over Marseille. But she couldn't ignore a large Parnassian when he tried to force her to land by nearly sitting on her in flight. With a huff of irritation that was directed to all the people and dragons involved, Harry turned toward where the crews were indicating - a field that was very large and being used for dragon holding already - and landed in the middle of a group of drably colored dragons that were a little on the huge size. Eyes, both dragon and man, locked onto the serpent dragon as she touched down with a soft 'whoosh' of air, making the escort dragons around her sound much like a herd of elephants when compared to her near silent landing.

Clotaire, who had taken a spot in the back of the crowd due to space problems, stood up on his hind legs to look at Harry again with appraising eyes, his crew slid off him with the help of ropes and chains, not at all bothered with the fact that it would be much easier to just have him lay down for them to disembark; indeed it seemed this was the norm for Clotaire's crew with how calm they were. Luna took only a few moments to speak with the other Captains of the escort, each Captain taking her words to heart, giving her little pats on the shoulders or kisses on the cheeks before they left to tend to their respective dragons. Clotaire's Captain herself finally made it to Harry and tilted her head to one side in wide eyed contemplation as Harry regarded her with a kind smile.

"You know, I do believe you remind me of someone, pretty one. Though I cannot remember who" she suddenly said, in perfect English, while keeping her voice low enough that none of the other dragons or crews heard her.

Harry gave her a draconic grin and laid down as gently as possible for something her size. "Oh, I know, Luna. I am a very hard person to remember, too many Wrackspurts around, I suspect." she answered back, grinning even more when Luna's eyes only got wider with joy and no little confusion. The Captain just stared at her for a moment, looking the dragon over again and again, from nose to tail and back once more, before sighing "Oh, I do not know who you are, will you tell me, please?"

Harry just shook her head and smiled some more "You showed me the Thestrals. Told me I was not crazy, in fact, I was just as sane as you were" the dragon then chanced a look over Luna's shoulder, to notice that the shape she saw hovering was in fact Clotaire; the dragon having come to check on Luna no doubt.

"So, you speak English too, then? Are you an English spy? An English dragon that has gone rogue?" he asked in a low hiss, his eyes narrowing in immediate dislike at the perceived threat to his nation. Harry bristled at being called a spy again.

"Enough with the spy nonsense! I am no good at spying, Snape would have probably been able to tell you that me just being in proximity to a spy would blow their cover. Besides, you speak English but are not a spy." Luna's eyes twinkled suddenly "He speaks English because I taught him, silly. How else was I to keep my English up?" she addressed Harry, a small smile gracing her mouth as she turned to her dragon. "This is Harry, you remember Harry? I told you about him when you were little, but he is not a wizard anymore...or a him" Luna sounded very amused with the last, smiling even more when Harry gave a mock pout at her jest, though the dragon did look a little uneasy at Luna telling anyone about her having been a human before.

But Clotaire suddenly flattened himself out on the ground, staring wide eyed at Harry and mouthing _"Truly?"_ in French. Harry nodded and sighed _"And I would like very much if you could keep it to yourself?"_ The other dragon nodded happily, inching closer and firing off question after question under his breath without pausing.

Can people really turn into animals?

Could humans really fly on sticks?

Quidditch sounds wonderful! Can dragons play?

on and on it went...

And suddenly Harry wasn't so alone anymore and felt like she was back home again.

Her tale to Luna was exciting for both the witch and her dragon, filling Harry with fondness at how much like Luna Clotaire was when he wasn't acting like a Malfoy wannabe. The many adventures of Harry the dragon, which is what Luna was threatening to call the story she was going to write about the sea dragon's voyage when everything settled down, though it would be considered fiction, with names and breeds changed to keep the secret of course.

It was soon learned by the wizard turned dragon that Luna had been reborn here just like Harry had - though not by falling to her death, but by walking through the Veil of Death willingly when she was old; curious about the voices on the other side - but when she came out on the other side, she had been an English child already a few years old in life rather than new born. She was taken in by a French Aviator after the village she was living in was attacked by a French patrol. The Captain of the lead dragon had felt terribly responsible for the orphaning of Luna, and took the then four year old girl in as his own, his dragon falling in instant love with the girl the second she laid eyes on the little human. Luna had then lived with the Aviator wherever he went, learning the ropes of being a member of a dragon crew and then at twelve years of age, she had gotten her chance to Captain a dragon when her adopted father had been shot and killed in the middle of a battle. Luna took control of his dragon, Claudia, a Fleur-de-Nuit, and lead them to a victory over the rebelling dragon crews of a local Covert. The rebellion had been over the direction the country was being taken in, with only a few people really feeling angry enough about it to rebel, but they were enough for a nasty fight.

Claudia was mortally injured in the fight, surviving only a few days after the battle before finally giving in. It was a sad time in Luna's life, leaving her parent-less - aside from the many in her adopted father's flight who had helped in the raising of the girl - and now dragonless with Claudia's death. It was two years later, while serving on another Fleur-de-Nuit, that Clotaire had hatched for her. Though he had been meant for another, Luna's own lieutenant Charles, in fact was the one who was to receive the hatch-ling. But as Clotaire chose Luna and not Charles, and wouldn't take another handler once he had, she was then in control of the beast, making the slightly older Charles her lieutenant in the hopes he would get his chance to win another try later.

Charles had not taken to loosing Clotaire very well at first, but after only a few weeks serving on him, had changed his attitude and started putting his all into his work. He and Luna were fairly good friends now and he rarely gave her any problems unless it was necessary; they have served together almost a year and a half now.

Harry was sad but impressed with Luna's story, finding that much had changed about her friend and yet not much at all. She still believed in the imaginary critters she used to talk about in the old world, and had even found one of her beasts here, her crumple Horned Snorkack, which turned out to be a type of lightweight dragon, though not named a Snorkack. Harry was happy the witch was here, and that she had her abilities still, but was worried about the loose lips she and her dragon seemed to possess, especially around the other Aviators.

"Oh, they don't believe me, they think it is a good jest. Just fantasy for humor, a Magician like in a circus, so long as I don't do anything suspicious to give them any idea that I'm serious, and Clotaire knows what not to say. He is very good at keeping secrets actually!" she said one day, when Harry asked her if it was wise to speak about her creatures and magic so openly here. "And if it does get to be a problem, Obliviate works wonders on them! Even dragons!" Harry had not liked that it was possible to Obliviate dragons, but was glad that Luna was the only other one, so far as they knew, that had come from their home world, so she had no fear of loosing any memories.

Lazing about at many Coverts on the way to Paris by the slow route, which would have taken at max a day if they weren't kicking it in gear and piddled around a bit, was an interesting way to waste time; meeting new people and hearing news of the war in general. A week was killed from the day of Harry's landing on French soil, till the time they finally reached Paris, because they just had to try almost all the Aviators they had at each Covert on the way to get a Captain on Harry. None so far had worked, and Harry knew the French were only putting up with her for this long because of her rare breed and the fact that she would be a very good fighter, and they were unsure if her spitting would even transfer to any offspring or they would have put her in the breeding grounds by now. But when they got to Paris Harry finally accepted a Captain, a guff arsehole by the name of Gregory LaCroix that was very much like an overly foul mouthed version of Mad-Eye; Mad-Eye had been bad enough, but this guy could out curse even old Moody.

He wasn't overly tall, standing only around five foot, ten inches, but was well built for a man at any age. His sandy blond hair was reminiscent of Remus Lupin's in color, though was long enough to only just pull back into a tail or bob, which is how he wore his hair normally anyway. LaCroix possessed the sharpest blue-grey eyes Harry had ever seen and she swore they had a unearthly gleam when the lighting was low.

And he was surprisingly not very happy to have been stuffed in harness again for someone who seemed to enjoy being on dragon back, he having served on his father's dragon, who had been in the family for at least three generations. The old dragon was still alive, but too old to fly, mostly blind and loosing more of his marbles each day.

LaCroix wasn't even sure the beast knew he was no longer at his side, spending his days napping and groaning about the weather to no one in particular. Captain LaCroix had been living semi-peacefully on his family land with the dragon until the higher ups found out about Harry, now named Murdina by LaCroix, and figured the older man might be just what they needed in tempering the highly opinionated sea dragon. Harry decided that this was the best she was going to get in this day and age without forcing a child to harness her, and took the man as her Captain, at least until she could dump him somewhere and escape if it seemed that he would be too much trouble to convince to run away with her; only time would tell if she had made a royal error in accepting him or not.

*Three months later just off Aberdeen, Scotland*

 _"Keep your formation tight, damn you! Is it so hard to follow such simple directions? Murdina, pray keep them in line."_ Harry obeyed, moving into the rear position of the five other dragons to snap at a few tails, herding the rest of the flight in the right spots. Many of the creatures were still too green to really fall in properly when told and had a nasty habit of veering off course. She sighed again for what must have been the eighty-thousandth time since they left the Covert outside Le Mans. The journey had been a long exhausting flight due to the winds that were quite heavy now with the weather having turned foul out of nowhere. It was followed by a rough landing on a dragon transport stationed with the French Navy in the North Sea, where Harry had immediately left all but her Captain behind on the ship, so she could head out for an underwater run near the cost of Scotland to get a better picture of what they were up against. These patrols were numerous over the four days of their posting, with her returning to the ship after three or so hours worth of 'spying'. Of course she couldn't dive for very long with LaCroix aboard, having to take it in short dips, with him patting her side when he needed air; the trouble with the temperature of the water was negated by her higher body temperature, or at least that's what he thought, when in fact it was Harry that was casting a mild warming charm on him every so often.

Said Captain was in fine form today, shouting at all the dragons and their crews that made up their attack group without a care in the world to being heard by the enemy. Their formation was near Aberdeen now, and could see a small patrol of Allied dragons far off in front of them, none had noticed the French on their way toward them yet, but Harry knew it was only a matter of time now as there was no way to hide all these inexperienced dragons. Looking at just how pathetic their group was acting compared to the Allied patrol they were targeting had Harry drawing on her magic very subtlety; she had not only finally come into her full spitting abilities, even if her size - which hadn't changed all that much except in weight and wing length - wasn't yet full, she had also found out what her magic could let her do now in small amounts, not that the humans had figured it out yet. Harry had learned to use her temperature alteration spells to cause storms - but not be able to actually control them - or just cloudy days whenever they needed one, but made sure to do it over a length of time so as not to make it seem like the storm just poofed into existence. This morning had been the start of her building up a storm for their patrol to use as cover, but with the unpredictable seas being the way they were and the weather wanting to do its own thing over the open ocean, she was having a very hard time getting more than a good cloud cover with a low ceiling. It would have to do though, she was out of time.

Harry slowly pulled up to the front of the attack group and then sharply darted up into the clouds to hide her form from the enemy dragons and crew, with minimal fussing from her Captain for breaking formation; he knew by now that his dragon had an eye for the best spots to attack from and let her do her own thing, most of the time _. "Make ready"_ was the whispered order from LaCroix to the nearby Signal-Ensign, who relayed the orders to the rest of the crew. Harry did a quick check over the active spells on her person, which consisted of a feather lite and a scent confusing spell. The scent spell was active to protect her position in battle, which is how she could ninja her way into a war zone even with little cover. It would either mask her smell completely, or change her smell just enough to appear to be a different gender all together. Coupled with her ability to hit a lower pitch when speaking if she so desired, she could pretend to be two completely different dragons.

When the others of her flight had complained the first time about her changing scent, she had told them she was able to do this since leaving the egg, that it must be a natural ability to protect herself. Though confused on how such a thing was possible, the French accepted this boon and even made sure that both herself and her captain were able to disguise themselves at a moment's notice. LaCroix was given a dagger to shave off his facial hair if he was to engage the enemy very closely with the possibility of surviving witnesses if Harry was going as a male into the field. LaCroix had then given her another name, a code name of sorts, Julien, to use whenever she changed her scent so as to protect her abilities from the enemy; it did make it seem as if the French had two dragons of the same breed, though at first LaCroix being on her both times did cause some confusion. Now with him shaving his facial hair off every time he went out with her when she was Julien, helped some in keeping the illusion; he was one of those men that could grow quite a bit of facial hair in only two days so it worked out nicely.

Today she was Murdina, and he was unshaven and using his very pissed off persona that everyone now associated with Murdina's Captain. Julien's Captain was more quiet, his voice almost had a whispering over tone, as if he had laryngitis and could only hit a certain volume.

By now the sounds of the British dragons spotting the French patrol could clearly be heard under her as she glided above the clouds, keeping her wings and tail still to stir up the least amount of clouds possible until the time was right to strike. Harry looked down at the clouds, using her ears to pinpoint where her targets would be, circling back and forth, using the English language being thrown about to help her; it was a good indicator of friend from foe _. 'If Luna were here I could have her use a marker spell, then I wouldn't have to guess'_ she thought sourly, knowing that the spell would make the targets glow softly but only to other magic users in the immediate area. But Luna wasn't with their group, having been sent to lead a group harassing some ships in the English Channel that had gotten too close to French borders for comfort.

 _'Even after all this time I still can't believe I'm actually fighting the English!'_ but she knew it was no use in worrying about it now. That ship had sailed long ago, she made her bed and now had to sleep in it, even if it kept rankling her fading English pride; being a dragon was making it harder to be worried about who she was fighting, rather she was now worried about when she would get to fight again. She reached up with a forepaw to rub the area from her lower jaw up to just in front of her ears and then up around the backs of her eyebrows; a small ruff was starting to come in and it itched something fierce these days, leaving her in a mood to snap and gripe more often than not at just about anything and anyone. LaCroix was very good about the whole thing, likening it to a boy getting his first whiskers, and could be caught most mornings looking proud at having such a fabulous beast, giving Harry a good rub down in the itchy places.

A shout of angry French to surrender, a snarl of protest at being boarded by said French from an English Captain, and the answering guns that followed the order, had Harry diving suddenly to break cover, bursting through the clouds with the grace of Dolphin breaching for a jump. The two Honneur-d'Or and one Petit Chevalier broke off from harassing the lead dragon of the British group, a Parnassian by the name of Victoriatus - who was the prime target of the French attack today - to allow Harry to whip in like a blast of cold air, turning on her side to allow some of her crew to drop off onto the enemy dragon below. It was minor success, with only two of the six crew members who jumped making it onto the other dragon, Harry had to dive quickly to catch the rest of the men, one in each foot, to keep them from plummeting to their deaths into the sea.

LaCroix swore loudly at the failed attempt, both of the crew men who had boarded Victoriatus were swiftly killed by the better trained British men, leaving Harry two men short from her little family. With a roar of anger, the great sea dragon put her rescued crew back on her harness, near the belly rigging where they could climb up, and dipped her head down into the churning waters and gulped. Four huge gulps later and she was back into the game, looking like she was heavy from overeating due to the weight she put on in water. Her Captain cautioned her about giving away their main weapons so soon, and Harry had to agree with him though only just, deciding she was going to make it seem like she could only carry the water and then just dump it on the enemy and not actually be a spitter. The idea was very much like the Muggle fire fighting aircraft from her home verse, not that any of the people here, save Luna, would know.

Harry positioned herself quickly right over Victoriatus and opened her jaws wide, avoiding the guns as they fired, letting out a rush of cold water (it was only heated when she was spitting it, another good way to trick them) right on top of the poor dragon's back, drenching him with the salty water. The dragon gave out a bellow of pain, the water getting into the wounds that had been dealt by the French dragons on their run, causing him some anguish with their number. Many of his crew were washed off his back, not expecting to be caught in what amounted to a large wave while high above the water. Harry crowed victoriously at him, snapping at the tail end of the dragon to scare him more as she wheeled around, LaCroix berating her for the taunting, _"Keep on target, Murdina. The fight is not yet won!"_ he roared at Harry, being mindful not to say her other name as she was female in scent right now. He then turned sharply, snapping out an order to the young signal-Ensign to get the group back into formation for another run.

 _"Boarding party, be ready!"_ LaCroix shouted from his spot on Harry's left side, tapping on her large shoulder to let her know to get in to position for another drop. _"Ready!"_ came the cry from below in the belly rigging as another group, this time of four, clung to her underside. A volley of gunfire from the English dragon almost drowned out the order of _"Drop!"_ but it was heard and obeyed. They fell upon the men below, sabers flashing and Harry watched them hit their mark, stumble a bit, and then engage the crew of Victoriatus in a fight for the Captain. Right off the bat five of the English dragon's crew were pulled off and tossed into the ocean by Peter, one of the higher ranking riflemen that was hoping to take the prize today. He was a rather hotheaded young man, but Harry figured he would probably mellow out when he had an energetic little shit of a dragon of his own to keep in line. Capturing Victoriatus would be a fast track to him getting that chance.

 _"HO!"_ and the French flag went up on Victoriatus' back, the dragon crying out in distress as his Captain was held at gun point. Three more of Harry's crew dropped down as she glided over the English dragon, keeping pace with him to make sure her people made it down safe. She was now only holding fifteen people on her own back, the rest of her crew - read sixteen more - were hanging in the belly rigging to cover Victoriatus; they didn't want any of the other English dragons attempting to take the Parnassian back. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a Yellow Reaper came barreling into the fight with a loud screech, catching Harry unaware and forcing her to move back or risk loosing her Captain to the jaws of the other dragon. Many of her own crew where caught in the Reaper's talons and pulled from their safety, crushed instantly by the impact the paws made against their bodies. The dragon avoided both the riflemen and Harry's answering snap of vicious jaws, twisting out of the way of metal and tooth, slashing at the harness on the back of Victoriatus. It was cut loose with a few well placed hits, sending the men, minus the Captain and six of the English crew, to the ocean below. Harry cried out in horror as Peter and his fellows were swallowed up by the waves, leaving nothing on the surface after the first massive wave hit. She dove, ducking under Victoriatus and slashing at his belly as hard as she could, her sharp claws raking large gashes into the softer underbelly of the Parnassian.

Harry paid no mind to the pain filled roars of the grey and white monster, or the pain that lanced her own side from the claws of the beast and the guns still on the dragon's back, as she neared the water at full speed, pulling up only a few feet from actually hitting the water and ducked her head below the sea line. Two people came back up in her jaws, spitting and sputtering salt water as she raised them up to her back, not caring if they were friend or foe. Again she dipped under, landing her body on the surface this time to get more depth with her long neck, the muffled yelling told her the two she had grabbed were in fact not of their crew, and were now POWs. She could see the crumpled form of two of her riflemen, just floating lifelessly in front of her. They were gone, there was no use in making a grab for them, but some movement from further down showed that Peter was still alive, wrapped up in the falling harness, eyes wide with terror as he realized there was no way for him to free his trapped leg. Harry lashed out with her teeth, snatching up the harness and pulling the whole heavy thing out into the air above, her long neck allowing the trapped men in the harness to hang out of the water by quite a few feet.

Weight on her neck told her the flexible full-body harness from head fin to tail base, was coming into use as her crew scrambled up to her head, three of them hanging off her crown rigging to get to the men trapped in the enemy harness in her mouth. Peter was flailing about madly in what Harry thought at first was a panicked attempt at freeing himself from the harness, but it was instead a flurry of blows he was raining down on an English rifleman, who had engaged her own rifleman in a sword fight. Her crew reached Peter just as he managed to cut the rigging that was holding the other man in its grasp, making him loose his foothold in the fight and tumble further down the harness, catching himself on a lower level. Harry was in half a mind to just let the harness go, her crewmen rescued already and now climbing aboard her again to safety, but she didn't drop them, handing them off to a passing member of her patrol with huff to the other dragon that plainly said 'they are your problem now'.

 _"Good work, my dear! You have done exquisitely this day!"_ LaCroix praised, patting her neck from his perch in the rigging by her massive head, having moved there during the rescue to act as a guide to the men who were climbing up. _"We should return to the ships now, even though we go away empty handed, save for a few of their people, we have still dealt a mighty blow to the English in wounding Victoriatus so."_ Harry snorted at the unintentional rhyme her Captain put out, but did not obey his orders, turning instead toward where she could see two Yellow Reapers and some unknown little dragons escorting Victoriatus to safety.

 _"No, we will not go back empty handed, we will take a dragon this day, I will make sure of it!"_ the sea dragon reared up out of the water, beating her powerful wings to gain lift off the surface of the ocean, grinning privately at the groans of dismay she heard from her many crew members _. "Pray, let us return to the Navy, my dear. We do not have the man power to take on another British patrol! Though you may be mostly unharmed, the others of our wing have not fared so well."_ LaCroix urged, pointing toward the three dragons she still had trailing behind her, the other two apparently chickened out earlier during the fight and headed back to base.

Harry snorted at the other dragons, sticking her nose in the air in a superior move she had witnessed on Malfoy more than once in her past life _. "Then let them run back, I will not leave yet, Victoriatus was our target, and although I do not know why he is so important, the higher ranking men have ordered his capture and we will not fail." 'I will not be called a spy and traitor due to failure'_ was left unsaid but plainly heard by her Captain, who growled in frustration, ranting about her 'disobedient tendencies' the whole way back toward where the battle had taken place. They stopped on the water for only a moment, long enough to change out the crews, handing over the English soldiers they had pulled from the water and gaining a few of the less tired members of the other dragon crews.

Once they were again in the air LaCroix continued his ranting, much to the amusement of the other crew members, only falling silent when Harry went above the clouds to follow the wounded Victoriatus and his companions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes LaCroix is based on Nigel Bennett's version of Lucien LaCroix in some ways, I just thought he fit the Gregory character quite well.
> 
> Ok, so I went through a lot of names, mostly looking up what fit the dragon/person and then finding out what meaning the name had if any. I was surprised when I chose both Julien and Gregory without looking them up first and then decided 'oh, I need to make sure the that name is spelled right'.
> 
> Got the French from the when I went to look up their names and this is the site I will go to from now on for some of the names if I don't know what they mean.
> 
> Gregory = French Provençal form of Latin Gregorius, meaning "watchful; vigilant."
> 
> Julien = French form of Roman Latin Julianus, meaning "descended from Jupiter (Jove)." Look up Jupiter Roman god and you will see why I was uber surprised when picking that name for Harry's code name.
> 
> And some Scottish now:
> 
> Murdina = a version of Mordag = Sea Warrior.


	5. In which mistakes are made...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's five, you get a treat! Will be a while before any more updates come this way, but I won't let it get too long between chapters if I can help it. This one is short, mostly a bridge, though I may come back and add part of six to it once I finish it, as six is looking to be a beast of a chapter. I will of course let you know on six if I did add more so you can come back and re-read this one for the new stuff.
> 
> Still no Beta, so if there is any misspelled words, sentences that don't make sense, or ways of speaking that are missed/added, please let me know. I read over these a lot before posting them but I don't always catch an error.
> 
> Disclaimer:
> 
> I don't own anything to do with the Harry Potter universe, J. K Rowling has that honor. I also don't own anything to do with Temeraire, that wonderful Naomi Novik does.

Harry felt her crew climbing all over her body, seeking out the wounded areas and applying bandages where needed. The rifles had done a fair job at injuring her, but it was the surprise attack that Victoriatus had landed on Harry's retreating form when she went for her men in the water that had done the most damage, large gashes on her back and thighs were starting to burn with a vengeance. Luckily she wasn't dripping any blood or the mission would be over long before it had even begun. The bandages were dyed black before each mission, in the hopes that if she were injured and had to switch identities during a campaign, she could hide the wounds and bandages against her black hide with the black cloth.

She kept a steady flow of magic surging through the clouds, stirring up a thunderstorm she hoped would spoil the English group's flight just enough to make them vulnerable to attack. A soft rain had started already and was being blown about by an ever increasing wind which was sure to make flying for a severely injured dragon quite difficult. LaCroix was taking this quiet time to shave his face now that Harry was going in as Julien, the fine hair being carried away with swiftly blowing wind.

It took almost two hours before a window of opportunity opened up, the sounds and smells of a smaller dragon coming near the group below told Harry that the rescue had finally arrived. She would wait until the Reapers left, for they would surely trade off with the few new dragons that were now jostling for position, then she would drop in and get as many of her crew on as many of the dragons as she could. They would be traveling lite, or at least they should be, to make it easier on the dragons having to half carry Victoriatus, and therefore would not have enough men to repel her crew. Puffing up her body to make herself larger and counting to five in her head once she heard the cries of a dragon in panic over the rumble of thunder, Harry dropped out of the sky, roaring deep in challenge as her crew started leaping from her belly to the dragons below. Right away she knew the jump was a mistake, the Reapers had not left yet and aside from the little grey dragon that Harry realized with a start was blessed Volly, there was massive black shape under Victoriatus to hold him up. One she would know anywhere. Each dragon startled in their own way when she roared, but recovered quickly in the face of an attack.

 _"Fuck!"_ She swore, her obviously female voice being blown away by the howling wind, startling LaCroix, who had never heard her use such a word, and pulled up quick enough to keep from being rammed by one of the Reapers who made a pass at her _. 'Fuck, no way I can keep this going in the right direction as is, I want this over with now!'_ she turned her head toward the nearest Reaper and spat with a harsh coughing sound, boiling water covered its head and neck so fast it had no time to dodge at all. The smaller dragon dropped like a stone to avoid any more attacks like the one it just suffered, yowling loudly in pain the whole way down. It hit the ground with a crunch so final, Harry knew it had to be dead, or very lucky. The other Reaper fled the scene in fear, ignoring the shouts from its Captain to return; Harry could tell it wasn't just the spitting that had scared it, but her own size and shape now that it could really see her, back-lit by the lightning in the howling storm; she probably looked like some vengeful godly serpent, clearly an elder to the smaller one they had engaged earlier over the water. She twisted into position above Victoriatus allowing two more of her crew to take the jump, French colors flying once more on the back of the great beast as they tried to make him turn back towards the water. But Temeraire was having none of it when her crew made to jump from the captured Victoriatus to his own back.

The black dragon snarled and actually **pulled** his Captain off his back and into the safety of his clawed hands.

 _'Well that sucks, what'd you that for you little brat?'_ Harry huffed, pulling back quickly to avoid getting smacked by the tail of the injured Parnassian as it lashed about in the turn he was being forced to make. Temeraire being under said Parnassian was well protected from any attack that Harry could safely make, thus making this whole mission a thousand times more difficult than it needed to be. Victoriatus keened in pain when Temeraire tried to move into a better position to turn the Parnassian back on course and Harry watched as the wounded dragon started to fall into a dive that Temeraire was having a very hard time in countering. _'Sod it, I'm big enough I think'_ the sea dragon hissed loudly at the other black dragon lashing out with her foreclaws at the already slashed backside of Temeraire.

He flinched away from the attack, leaving Victoriatus wide open to Harry's tricky maneuver _'Hmm, I'm just long enough to wrap around, but getting him back is going to be a chore if I have to keep fighting this lot'_ quick as a striking snake, Harry came up under Victoriatus and wrapped her long body in two large coils, trapping the other dragon's wings and legs. Her own wings beating heavily to keep the both of them aloft and not crashing into the ground. She was mindful of the crew on both herself and the English dragon, and almost cried in frustration when the call of _"Ware boarders!"_ came from her back as a shadow descended from above her.

It was a Regal Copper, a young yet still huge Regal Copper, that was dropping his crew onto her back with ease as she was too entangled with Victoriatus and couldn't move out of the way _. "Abandon the capture!"_ LaCroix rasped, panic showing in his voice for the first time in the three months she's known him. But it was too late for that, if she let go now, the other dragon would die for sure and she would be free to capture from the Copper and Temeraire. But if she held on, they would both be in a fix once she was captured and refused to let go of the Parnassian anyway. Decisions, decisions... Harry looked over her shoulder at a livid LaCroix, who was trying to fend off the boarders without loosing his footing on the twisting dragon flesh under him. He turned just enough to catch her eye and then dropped, clinging to the harness for dear life and shouting to their crew in a harsh voice _"Bird of Prey!"_ and the crew dropped as well, confusing the English attackers, many of which were now looking above for this bird that had the French on their bellies so fast.

And then Harry dropped, her wings snapped back to her sides tightly, forcing her and Victoriatus into a steep dive, one she used her tail to add a violent spin to. All the boarders were blown off by the move and Victoriatus could be heard coughing as if to retch from all the spinning that was happening. Mere feet from the ground the sea dragon whipped her wings out again to catch the air, allowing Victoriatus' wings free with a shift of her body in the hopes that he would instinctively snap them out. He did, and it helped in pointing them back toward the sea, where she could land in the water and drag her prize back to the ships if need be.

Her wings were drooping from the strain of carrying two dragons, one much heavier than herself, even with the feeble wing beats of Victoriatus, her wings were rather small compared to her size, even if they did grow a bit during her time as a French dragon. Temeraire was not far behind her helping the Copper in catching the crew she had thrown off, shouting out in anger and wonder at what Harry had done; his Captain, also torn between swearing at the situation and applauding her skill.

"Maximus, Temeraire, someone grab them!" Laurence yelled as Harry, now panting for breath, pulled away from the two dragons with only slightly more speed than they were exhibiting. The mission seemed as though it was to be a failure, with either her captured and Victoriatus returned to the safety of the English, or both of them dying when she could no longer support their weight; magic was only able to do so much right now, even with the feather-lite charm she tried placing on Victoriatus, but as he didn't have a harness anymore, the spell had very little to cling to. Plus she so tired that any amount of magic was very draining. Volly was buzzing about her head now, trying in vain to distract her enough to let the other dragons get the upper hand in the fight.

_"Friendly skies! Allies on the horizon!"_

_'Dear Merlin, if we get out of this in one piece, I'll never pick on those little shits again, I promise!'_ Harry beamed through her exhaustion and pain at the sight of five dragons, her own flight, two Honneur-d'Or, one Petit Chevalier, and two Pascal's Blue, winging their way toward them at maximum speed. Cursing could be heard from behind her as both Temeraire and Maximus' crews noticed the French re-reinforcements heading inland. "No! Stop!" Temeraire called out, pulling along side Harry and Victoriatus to attempt at latching on to her harness. "You must stop! You are going to kill yourself!" Harry realized that as Temeraire spoke, neither he nor Laurence seemed to recognize her as the other dragon they had traveled with for so long, like she was so different from when she had known them that they couldn't tell it was her _._ Not even a scent change should make her appear all the different from that close up.

_'Well I'm glad our ruse is working, though weather they know the female is the one they traveled with or not remains to be seen. This I can work with. Now, if only that spell for alteration of scent holds a little longer'_

_"Let go English scum!"_ she hissed, pitching her voice down to sound more masculine and acting as if she couldn't understand the English that Temeraire had shouted at her. He was holding onto the harness near her hips and she was sure said harness was giving with all the force that was being exerted against it _"No! You must surrender! We will not harm you but if you do not surrender you will both die! Do you not see how dangerous this is?"_ Temeraire barked back in French, looking very worried for Victoriatus' health, as the other dragon was looking very faint now and was barely flapping his wings at all; they hung almost limp against his own sides and Harry's legs. "Pray, surrender. You must know that you cannot carry him anywhere in this state!" Laurence pleaded, using his sword to direct his riflemen to aim at LaCroix, who was trying very hard to hide behind one of Harry's arms at her urging.

 _"For France!"_ LaCroix shouted as their flight came rushing in around them, the call was echoed by the rest of the flight. The two Blues doing their best to chase off Volly and irritate Maximus enough to follow them instead of Harry. One of the Honneur-d'Or in the pair, Lucien, headed straight for Temeraire's front, the other, Pierre, moving in to try and take him from behind. The Petit Chevalier, Beauregard, moved in under Harry and the Parnassian to switch off on the carry; the sea dragon would chase off the other English dragons and then fly above Victoriatus and help carry him with her legs and arms, which would be easier than wrapping around him like before. The signals on Harry and the Petit, flashed back and forth for the change over, the twin Blues, Tomas and his brother Philippe, each snatched at the backs of Temeraire and Maximus to keep the two heavyweights from interfering with the exchange.

Harry uncoiled quickly, dropping out of the way of Beauregard's path, allowing the Petit to charge into place and take over with carrying Victoriatus for a bit. Tomas let out a shrill cry and retreated back to his fleeing brother's side as two shots from Maximus' back landed a good hit to his chest and left arm. Pierre appeared in front of Maximus from below, halting the dragon's advance for a moment as Lucien flew down from above, dropping six of his crew onto Maximus' back in the confusion. "Ware boarders!" came the call from the Copper's crew as the fight for the control of the dragon began. Poor Maximus kept looking over his shoulders to keep an eye on battle and his Captain, paying no attention to the fleeing Harry and Beauregard. They were near the ocean now, only a few yards from semi-safety, as Harry could easily gather water to combat the two heavyweights if Beauregard could only hold out a bit longer.

Temeraire snarled and snapped at the much smaller Philippe, catching him in the middle much to the great shock of both as Philippe's form went limp in Temeraire's mouth. Tomas howled in anger, darting forward to attack Temeraire's face and retrieve his deceased sibling from the other dragon. The black dragon let go of the dead Blue, watching sadly as the tiny body fell into the sea, hitting the water with a loud splash and sinking quickly under. No humans surfaced and Tomas circled many times, crying brokenly at the patch of water where his brother had vanished only moments before. Harry closed her eyes as guilt flooded her, these dragons and their crews were greener than she was, this being their first combat scenario, while this would be her fourth. They truly had no business being here and it partly her fault for taking them into this battle.

 _"Tomas!"_ she shouted, making sure to keep her pitch low enough to pass as male-ish _"Come away, Tomas! He is gone, dear one, there is nothing we can do"_ But even with the pleas of his own Captain in his ears, Tomas only had eyes for the ocean, watching the waves intently while he called to his brother. Temeraire was now hanging back, head hung low as the heartbreaking scene played out before him. "I did not mean to. He was too close when I snapped at him, I did not think him that close at all." he voiced, tone filled with pain for the little Blue that was now trying to reach under the waves to fetch his brother, heedless of his injuries or the warnings his Captain was shouting at him _._

 _"He will be no good in a battle if this is how he will react to the deaths of his wing mates. True that was his brother, but he has a softer heart than Philippe, and obviously cannot function without him"_ Harry said lowly to LaCroix as she circled around Maximus, who was still trying to repel the enemy soldiers. Her Captain did not reply audibly, but gave a stiff nod at her words, eying the young Blue that was finally lifting off and heading back to the ships in the distance. The Regal Copper roared in fear at the same time Temeraire yelled "No! Maximus!" as the Captain of the red, a fellow by the name of Berkley, was found to be held at sword point.

Maximus shook his head in denial as Lucien and Pierre took up an escort position on either side of the red-orange dragon, trading people back and forth between the three to give an even number. Surprisingly, not many of Maximus' crew was actually killed in the fight, just knocked unconscious, and as they were strapped in, could be seen dangling from the harness while the French tried to retrieve them.

 _"You will give them back!"_ Temeraire rushed toward Harry, feet angled in the perfect kill move if he had given any time to practice with such attacks. Harry ducked down to avoid being winded by the large male, her tired body only obeying now out of fear of being gutted, and only after ducking out of the way did she realize her mistake; her back had been exposed to the attacker in full.

Temeraire gave a loud crow of victory, holding up the startled, small - in his hand - form of LaCroix. Harry let out a whine of dismay, but quickly turned to her flight and roared _"Fly fast, fly free! To France, I beg you. Do not let our capture keep you from victory!"_ and here she let her crew jump to Lucien, the dragon had turned around at hearing Harry's cry, and accepted her crew with no fuss; the glare he sent back at Temeraire would have made a Basilisk proud.

"Temeraire, my dear, have him join us. And pray, be gentle with his Captain." Laurence patted his dragon with a sad smile adorning his face, but the glint in his eyes let Harry know that there was satisfaction in his soul; they may have lost two of their dragons, but the French just lost one of their most prized beasts.

 _"Laurence asks that you come now, we will be returning to our Covert."_ Laurence watched Harry bristle at Temeraire's words.

 _"You will give me my Captain or I will not come at all. I would rather kill you then suffer being parted from him"_ she hissed back, still keeping cover, yet finding deep in her heart that she would indeed rather die than loose LaCroix in any way. Even though she had only known him for just over three months, she still counted him a friend and couldn't stand the idea that he could be killed or taken from her.

 _"I cannot do that, it is against the rules!"_ Temeraire said, aghast at the very idea that he should give up his prisoner _._ "What is the issue, surely he will not continue to fight with his Captain in hand?" Laurence looked horrified at the very thought of a dragon, this one in particular, not caring enough about their Captain to cease fighting when the battle was already lost.

"No, he wants me to give him back, or he will kill me he says. He would rather die then not have his Captain" Temeraire gave Harry a look that was probably meant to be comforting, but instead looked like he was constipated.

 _"Do not fight, do nothing. I am well, and you know we will be reunited once we are aground. Pray, my sweet Julien, do not give up your life for me."_ LaCroix begged from his place in Temeraire's claws, his eyes and the name he used told her that they would escape some other way.

Temeraire quietly translated the order from LaCroix to Laurence, so that the man would not be left out of the conversation. Laurence sagged in relief at the words, nodding his head at LaCroix, who was being handed up to Temeraire's back "I cannot promise that you will be allowed to see Julien very often, but you will be able to speak to him at least once when we are back at the Covert" he said, accepting with great care the sword and pistol that LaCroix possessed. LaCroix himself made no indication of understanding, like Harry, the language that was being spoken, and patiently waited for Temeraire to translate for him.

And Harry slumped in defeat, her one chance at gaining him back and running with all her remaining strength was gone, just like the thunderstorm that was starting to wane now that Harry was no longer feeding it any magic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Harry can't change genders, only temporarily cover her scent or fool the noses of those around her at thinking she was male for a time. But the gig will be up once they get a good look at her if she isn't careful and oh boy, once they realize she is most definitely not male... *Evil Grin*
> 
> Harry also cannot control storms, yet, only make them and let them rage or fail depending on the already established weather patterns of the area.
> 
> I totally did not plan on this happening (the whole Harry gets caught or Maximus being taken.) It was suppose to be getting Victoriatus back, loosing Philippe to death and then Harry getting her ass handed to her by Temeraire. But somehow I wrote Maximus getting caught and then LaCroix falling off (changed to being snatched) and then this whole thing happened.


	6. Chapter 6: In which characters are tested...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand here's six!
> 
> I don't know if I will keep up the 5,000 or more words per chapter up or if I will just go with anything above 2,000. It used to be a monster chapter, but I didn't like the direction my thoughts went halfway through and changed it up. I've split it again (like I did with five) so you get a cliffy this chapter XD
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you will enjoy the rest of the story :D
> 
> Still no Beta, so if there is any misspelled words, sentences that don't make sense, or ways of speaking that are missed/added, please let me know. I read over these a lot before posting them but I don't always catch an error.
> 
> EDIT: Tried to post this a couple of days ago but the internet wouldn't let me upload, kept timing out.
> 
> Disclaimer:
> 
> I don't own anything to do with the Harry Potter universe, J. K Rowling has that honor. I also don't own anything to do with Temeraire, that wonderful Naomi Novik does.

Chapter Six: In which characters are tested...

The charming Covert they landed in hours later was vastly different from any of the French Coverts that Harry had visited so far. The wonderfully heated stone ground made for an excellent aches and pain soother, and the mountains around them were a nice change from the mostly flat or small hilly areas that Harry had spent most of her time in France at. Not that France didn't have nice mountains too, for France had some very lovely mountains! It's just that most Coverts she had been brought to weren't very near said mountains, and this one had a clearing that sat ON a tall mountain, giving a spectacular view to any who came up here. A strangely familiar view to one Harry 'the-man-who-turned-into-a-female-dragon' Potter. In fact, she was pretty sure she had seen this mountain a lot in her older years as Harry Potter... while doing a bit of broom racing with her friends and family.

Harry was suddenly filled with a great surge of excitement, and the sea dragon reared up on her hind legs to see more of the surrounding lands, head swiveling this way and that to bring in all the glorious details. After a few moments of critical examination of the area, and a little overlaying of her remembered mental map, Harry could indeed confirm that in another universe, just up to the northeast quite a few miles away, a forested area with a lake lay host to a magical castle that taught children how to be Witches and Wizards. It was not too far from Dufftown and though Harry wasn't too sure if Dufftown even existed here yet or will ever exist here, she planned to make a trip up there anyways to see if there was an old castle just sitting in pieces or if it was just a bare hillside with some trees and an empty lake; anything from her past, even buildings, would be a grounding experience for the sometimes nostalgic dragon.

_"Julien, you should not do that. You are making everyone else nervous with all your fidgeting"_ Temeraire said suddenly from nearby where he was getting checked over. His slightly reproachful voice startled Harry enough that she instinctively jolted her head in his direction, her whole body twitched in pain, causing her to emit a soft hiss, one that Temeraire did not like if his frown was any indicator. The male did not reply to the sound right away, however, and continued to allow the humans around him to check his wounds and bandage up the nasty ones he got during the rescue turned fight. There were some very worried humans on Harry as well, taking the dressings off of her own wounds and chattering among themselves in confusion as to why the bandages were dyed black with what was obviously not dragon blood. Many of the people on her body kept throwing fearful looks at her head, sometimes motioning for Temeraire to cut off her sight of them with one of his wings if she stared at them overmuch.

The sea dragon growled deeply when one of the men poked her injury too hard during a cleaning, a poke she was sure was an accident, but the sound scared the workers off of her entirely, many jumping to Temeraire with a loud yell to subdue her. Temeraire must have also mistaken the sound as being directed at him and his people, instead of a reaction to pain, for he frowned even more at her and clicked his tongue chidingly before he spoke.

_"Do not be angry at us, it is your own fault that you are captured. If you had not been so foolish as to come after us and steal our friends, you would not be here now."_ Temeraire said, a little smugness seeping into his words by the end, his eyes glinting in repressed anger when he spoke of Harry having taken two dragons that day. The anger drained a bit from him after a moment of silence from Harry, and his eyes clouded over in what Harry figured was remembrance; it appeared to the sea dragon that maybe both dragons really were his friends, though she was not that sure about the Parnassian, as she didn't remember any reports of Temeraire being anywhere near the other dragon, at least no long enough to know one another very well.

Still, an opportunity had presented itself in this line of speech...

_"A fool I may be, but I still stole your friends, Coal-Scales, if your upset is truthful, so it does not matter if I am captured or no. There are two more important dragons of English service now being hosted by the French."_ Harry said quietly, still ensuring her voice was fairly masculine as she spoke. No matter how much stretching she would do when looking about, Harry made sure to keep up her ruse of size difference from the 'female' dragon the English were familiar with in the reports; both the water in her pockets and her magic helped bulk up her looks a bit, but at a great cost. She lowered her magically and physically exhausted body back down on the ground, very aware that Temeraire had thrown his large tail over her back as a first strike of sorts when she growled earlier; a warning if she should try to run. She could tell he didn't like being called by that nickname, but she wasn't about to call him by his real name when they were suppose to be unfriendly.

_"Now with two very good dragons for our Corps or breeding grounds, and word of my capture, France will give out a ferocious fight, one that you will find hard to counter."_ Harry turned her head away from the other dragon, watching the door of the building that LaCroix had been taken to shortly after Temeraire touched down. Her removing Temeraire from her immediate view helped with the act she had to play, as dealing with the other dragon in such close quarters now was quite painful emotionally; especially with what had to be said in her part.

_"France will still win the war, no matter how many of us you capture or kill, so I do not see why you are so smug. Soon all of you will be French and there will be peace."_ Harry said, eyes focused only on the buildings in front of her, even when she heard a sharp gasp of horror from the other dragon. There was only a second or two worth of silence before Temeraire's mass swelled up like a great, black balloon, nostrils flaring out in supreme rage as he snarled a defiant noise. His blue eyes flashed madly in the waning sunlight "You will not win the war! I will not let you!" Temeraire's head moved in quick, violent jerks as he spoke, punctuating almost every other word in his speech. "And I will take back all of the ones you have stolen and then see if it is not all of you who will soon be English!" he spat, turning his back to her swiftly yet still doing his duty in guarding her with his presence.

Harry kept from replying to his jab only by flopping over on her other side, realizing that the last speech had been in English and Julien was not suppose to know this language; a problem that would have to be rectified soon or she would always be in Temeraire's view for translation purposes, which would NOT bode well for her disguise. She could not keep playing Julien if Temeraire or another dragon picked up on her being a female and not a male, which would blow her cover to hell and back, putting both LaCroix and herself in even deeper shit than they were now. Plus it would make things harder on the French, who were counting on the Allies believing they had TWO dragons of the oriental breed, if the Allies found out the French had only one such dragon, and it was the one the English had in hand, things would go poorly in future battles for the French. Right now the fear of one of these large, powerfully dangerous dragons showing up just about anywhere kept the Allies from straying too far off from re-enforcements, which meant they either needed ships to tag along on patrols over sea, or needed to stay near their own land to do battle with the French.

_"If you are to insult me, then do so in a civilized tongue. I do not speak dog."_ She knew it was a bit much, maybe too much right now with such a large angry dragon near her, but Harry didn't care at the moment; two higher ranking persons had just exited the building she had been watching, and with the help of Laurence and a few others, they were escorting LaCroix toward her, though none of them looked happy about doing so. _'Oh my dear LaCroix, what have you done?'_ she thought in despair, knowing the look on the man's face very well by now; it was one that was used when Harry wasn't going to like the news he bore.

_"My dear, I am sorry to have kept you for so long, but important things needed to be said. I am afraid that I bring you ill news-"_ her Captain started to say, pulling back suddenly and cutting off when Harry reared up a bit to interrupt _._ Temeraire paused in his translating for the non-French speaking humans and snarled at her in warning, possibly fearing that she would try to take her Captain in hand now that he was so close, and escape, but he didn't do anything more than add a bit of weight to her back with his tail, as if reminding her that it could hurt her at a moments notice. Harry disregarded the warning from the other dragon and stared the other people in the clearing down with an angry glare.

_"-What ill news? What are they going to do to us?"_ she hissed, only lowering her head once again when LaCroix reached out to caress her nose with a shaking hand, his pain filled expression told her what his next words were going to be and the sea dragon felt a spike of fear run down her spine. She could hear Temeraire inhale deeply after translating her words, his energy shifting to an uneasy stance. LaCroix swallowed hard and said nothing for a long moment, letting his softer side out in a rare public display of his actual feelings toward his dragon; the man always seemed to be untouchable, never really giving much more than a bit of praise or some gentle pats, now, however, he was showing Harry his true emotions for her...and it hurt. Their relationship was suppose to be a temporary one - at least on Harry's side, as she never really wanted to stay tethered to a human companion - that could be tossed out when the wizard turned dragon was ready to make her move out of the country. But somewhere during these many weeks of captivity, she had come to care for her Captain, though perhaps not in the same crippling way that other dragons did their own Captains, and he seemed to care for her, and now they were stuck in this bothersome situation that she caused; one she might not be able to escape from this time.

Finally, he sighed, putting both hands on her nose to pull himself closer to her, resting his forehead on the soft skin between her nostrils and just above her top lip _. "They are sending me away. To some place where I will be held captive to ensure your cooperation. As for you, my poor Julien, you will have to take one of the English Captains...No! Do not interrupt me."_ he scolded, tapping the sides of her nose with his hands when he felt her lips contort in an effort to audibly let the whole Covert know how she felt about this piece of information; she had no desire to replace her LaCroix with some one who she would not be able to trust. The blood was rushing so loudly in Harry's ears that she could only vaguely make out the rumbling English spoken in the background, echoing her Captain's words to a now larger audience.

_"You will take a Captain and if you serve well, I will be unharmed and-"_ here he paused, dragging his head away from her to look darkly over at the other humans who had escorted him out _"-I will be able to write you letters, and you will be allowed to reply. But you must listen to them, Julien, both of our lives are at stake here."_ LaCroix shook his head, again pressing his face to hers as he lowered his voice for only her to hear. Harry could see Temeraire straining to make out the words and seeming alarmed when he discovered he could not. _"I will tell you where I am, and perhaps, one day, you will come and get me, yes?"_ he smiled, pulling away to look Harry in one of her very large eyes as the men came forward to take him back inside, obviously not happy with his hushed, non-translatable conversation. Harry snarled softly at the men when they pulled her Captain away, watching them with an evil glint as they turned from her. The other dragon gave her a suspicious look but did not ask what had been said, perhaps thinking it a private goodbye, as she had not reacted in anyway except to head butt her Captain softly.

"You will be given a day to rest and mourn, Julien, then you will have to accept another Captain and train with the others here to replace the dragon we lost today. There is no other choice, you will have to serve. We need more dragons, you understand?" Laurence said, his voice soft as he looked the sea dragon in the eyes, even if she would not acknowledge him. Harry was unsure why Laurence was picked to speak, maybe they thought she would respond better to the Captain who had captured her? Even if she did not look at them, she kept them all in her sights out of the corners of her eyes, just to make sure nothing was attempted.

Her silence even after a translation was given did not go over well, it seemed, and another tried instead. "You do understand, that if you disobey, refuse orders or cause injury to anyone here, that your Captain, LaCroix, might come to harm?" this one was an older gentleman, who stood near Laurence, motioning Temeraire to translate as he addressed her. Harry waited until Temeraire was long finished, still watching the building where LaCroix had been taken with her sad eyes, before she spoke, but Temeraire beat her to the punch. _"Do you understand?"_ he asked a little harshly, flinching back from Harry when she finally turned and set her near emotionless eyes on him.

_"Yes, Soot-Dog"_ she bit out, almost loosing control of her disguise _, "I understand. You will present your choices to me tonight, all your choices. Line them before me, even if they are not Captains or very good at all. I will decide before dawn...Leave me"_ Harry then curled into a ball, hiding her head under layers of coils so she would not have to hear what was being said around her. She tore down all but the scent confusion spell to free up her magic and give her tired self some rest. Her mind going back and forth over the dreadful situation she found herself in; loyalty to her new country and Captain, who might be a total ass worth not even the shit she dumped out four times a day, or loyalty to her old Captain and his country, a place where she was slowly starting to feel at home? What choice did she really have now, stuck here in this place, surrounded by the enemy and now separated from her Captain, her dear friend? Harry took little notice of the indignant sputtering of the higher ups at her demand, which had just now been translated by Temeraire - though he was keeping her names for him out of the translations - for their input; they were not best pleased, but Laurence was trying to instill some kind of intelligence into the conversation by explaining that this may be the ONLY way to get this dragon under English control.

Harry slipped off into a fitful sleep while the argument continued around her, nightmares of the past and current plaguing every moment of her rest.

**POV Change**

Temeraire eyed the strange male dragon with extreme worry; the French dragon had agreed much too quickly to the conditions set before him, in Temeraire's eyes, and he now wondered what was said in such quiet whispers before the Captain was taken. Truly he wondered about much more than just the whispers, such as how did the French get two dragons of Oriental breed, and both male and female ones at that! Worse was that he feared they may very well be related to Stella, perhaps siblings? Ones that the French had first and then managed to get Stella's egg? Such a thought was horrifying indeed, that they might be breeding a whole army of these powerful mixed breeds and the English would never know it until it was too late! How many could they field already? How many were on their way from wherever the French kept them until they were needed? Could they have Stella now?

Thinking of his old friend brought such a sadness to his heart that it almost made him sick; where was his friend and why was she gone in the first place? Had she fallen behind due to curiosity? Or due to her being tired? Had they been so caught up in their own conversations that they hadn't noticed her drifting off, possibly even needing to land for a rest? She hadn't looked tired to Temeraire, though she had done a fair bit more swimming than he had, and she was younger too; she might have been exhausted and they didn't even notice!

_'Or maybe she thought you did not need her any more, you had Volly to talk to then. Maybe she flew off because you were annoying her too much.'_ his cruel idea cut in, throwing him off balance mentally for a moment as it sunk in. He had been a bit too annoying at times, he feared; always asking her to tell him a story, or teach him something she knew, or play with him when he was bored _. 'She never complained though'_ he thought glumly, flopping down on the ground near the other male, keeping his eyes on him even as a counter argument slashed his previous thoughts to pieces _'Of course not! She was too nice! She did not want to hurt your feelings, to tell you to stop being so stupid and let her be!'_ Temeraire let out a huff of irritation at his own thoughts, turning his head enough to watch both the French dragon and the group of hopeful Captains at the same time. The group was mostly a bunch of young men, and a handful of women, who were going to use up their current chance at a dragon of their own by trying to harness the French capture. Many of them had been around Temeraire a lot in the beginning, thinking they might have a chance of getting him under their Captaincy before the idea was shot down and Laurence was allowed to stay Temeraire's Captain.

Now they had their eyes on another dragon, one that might either make or break their career if they managed to replace the French Captain successfully. Temeraire doubted such a thing was possible, it was too...well, he wasn't sure what it was too much of, really, but too much to hope for was one sure thing. Some of the runners, even Temeraire's own, were now sneaking into the group, making the large dragon narrow his eyes possessively; that French fish was not going to get any of his people! The black dragon slowly got to his feet, keeping his wayward crew members and the French dragon in sight as he walked over to see what was being said. The other dragon didn't so much as twitch at all the noise and movement, seemingly dead to the world as far as the senses went. Temeraire spotted Laurence heading his direction, weaving through the chattering hopefuls and chasing off the ones he knew shouldn't be there, before stopping in front of his draconic companion with a heavy sigh.

"Nasty business, this. The whole situation reeks of terrible planning and poor understanding of the trouble they have fallen in with this French beast. But you cannot tell them so! No, it is very like walking a tired horse through thick mud, that is to say, trying to make them see reason is just not possible. They have their minds set on this dragon being in the Corps and will not have it any other way."

Laurence said at last, having taken a few seconds to study the still silent French dragon a few yards away from them. It was horribly apparent to Temeraire that Laurence was of the opinion that both dragon and Captain be sent away together, somewhere where they could be controlled better. Instead, the Captain had been shipped off to who knows where, while the barely cooperative, terribly tempered, non-English speaking war dragon would be left in a _training ground_ under the supervision of barely trained dragons with little to no combat experience behind them, and have a Captain of unknown abilities _forced on_ said French war beast. This completely tragic pairing would then be trained in _English combat maneuvers_ with other English dragons, and possibly sent out to help re-enforce English dragons _against French_ dragons, all with the belief that the captured dragon would cooperate so long as his old Captain was able to speak to him through letters, to reassure him of his continued survival and all around well being...some how this was to be an _excellent idea indeed_.

Laurence looked up at Temeraire and smiled grimly, almost as if he knew exactly what his dragon was thinking. "Yes, a good idea, they say. What happens if this French dragon decides he does not believe the letters are from his Captain? Or upon having to actually engage in a fight with the French patrols, he 'gives up' and lets them board without a bit of resistance? I do know that if I were in such a position, I would not hesitate to take _any_ path home that would come to me." Laurence shook his head suddenly, pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand while reaching out to pat Temeraire gently on the nearest leg with the other. "No, my dear, I do not see this endeavor ending well. Not at all".

Temeraire sighed out a heavy agreement of sorts, glaring over at the French dragon, Julien he had to keep reminding himself, as if hoping the other dragon would just vanish if he stared hard enough at him. A hush had fallen around them all now, as not many of the hopefuls were chattering now, choosing instead to walk closer to the French dragon in silence, leaning over in an attempt to see the hidden head; many were thoroughly disappointed, however, as Julien's coils were very tightly packed together, keeping any views of his face to the barest minimum. Temeraire's eyes snapped completely over to the other dragon when a deep chuffing noise filled the air, noticing at once what was the cause of the other great dragon's amusement; little Levitas had come over from his resting place near the outskirts to investigate the appearance of another large, black dragon of oriental shape, and had stuck his nose up under the many coils to have a look at the stranger's face.

**POV Change**

Harry slowly woke to a soft snuffling noise very near her head. A gentle poking of the bottom most coils of her body came next, followed by a small, brown and purple dragon head peeking under when Harry lifted the wall of scales in curiosity of the touch; Temeraire was much too large to have been the one that was bugging her and the humans were much too small to be noticeable in her deep sleep. The small dragon, a Winchester she realized, tilted his head almost all the way upside down in a very dog like manner when he was finally allowed to see her face. His eyes wide and slightly fearful, yet he stood his ground. Harry was amused at the act and chuffed in greeting at the little beast, hoping it would not run off, as she had no real desire to show off her mean side to such a tiny thing; it would automatically respect her rank, she knew, there was no instinctual need on her part to battle him. Now with Temeraire on the other hand... She mentally shook off that thought as the Winchester blinked rapidly at her chuffing and attempted to mimic the sound, with hilarious results due to his size.

"Hello! I am Levitas! Who are you?" he chirped happily, his little head bobbed in a very bird like fashion as Harry uncoiled from her spot slowly; she would get no more rest this night it seemed. Mirroring his head tilt, only to a lesser degree, she leaned forward to eye his dirty, unkempt harness while taking in his malnourished body and neglected state; was he a rescue of some sort, like a prisoner?

_"I do not speak English, tiny one, only French."_ She spoke, her voice raspy and dry from lack of having anything to drink for so many hours in a row, though it was painful and annoying, it did help add to her act. She hoped Temeraire would translate for the Winchester. _"What is wrong with your harness, little butterfly? Do these English have no respect for you? Why are you so small? Are you not being fed?"_ she hissed, flaring her frills out in disgusted anger. Levitas squeaked, startled at the loud hiss, but did not move more than a few feet back from Harry's spot. The Winchester suddenly looked very sad, and reached over to pull on his harness a bit, moving parts of it off of flesh that appeared to have been rubbed raw in places. Harry's eyes narrowed at this and she had to hold in another hiss of anger.

_"No, no, I just... We are very busy, almost always so, and we often cannot waste time on such little things. There is nothing broken on my harness to fix, though, it is very tight and I would very much like to have it bigger, and not so dirty..."_ he trailed off, looking over at the other dragons that were farther off from Harry's area, eying their harnesses and ground crews with an envious look. _"But it is not so bad! I can live with it, truly! Sometimes I might have to do without, because we will not be able to get such things, you know-"_

_"-That is no reason at all to not have such basic needs met! You must have a clean harness or you will get sick! And your wounds also must be clean and treated. What of food and water? Do you not get these because you 'might have to do without' sometime? I have never heard of cruel training like this, such nonsense is unspeakable! It is abuse! Who is telling you things that are so untrue, little butterfly? I would see them punished!"_ Harry snapped, not liking at all what she was witnessing here; who would dare treat this lovely hearted thing so? A shadow that could only belong to Temeraire fell over both Harry and Levitas, but the female ignored the subtle attempt at hijacking the conversation, and continued to watch the fidgeting Winchester in front of her.

_"No! They are not untrue! My Captain always ensures I am the best flier! We are never late and always get our routes done faster than others! My Captain pushes me because he is right, I must be the better out of all of them!"_ He hissed back, his wounded pride and the perceived slander of his Captain making him forget the natural fear of the much larger dragon that he had been experiencing only a moment ago, even during his 'relaxed' conversation with Harry. He then wheeled around with an angry huff and pushed off, flying a short distance away to lay down, turning his front from her to give her the 'cold shoulder'.

_"Stupid little bug."_ Harry muttered, turning her eyes to the many Captains in the area as if to spot the one responsible for the tiny Levitas' poor condition, of both mental and physical states. But none approached the brown and purple dragon, so Harry was left with no one to sear with her murderous gaze _._ The conversation had been short, and she knew she had pushed too hard for a first time meeting, but really! She hadn't seen such mistreatment at all in this universe and Harry couldn't believe such a thing would be done to a dragon here, where they are known to be thinking creatures. The shadow that was still hovering behind her shifted to her right, and Temeraire came up along side her to watch Levitas stare intensely at one of the buildings not far from them.

_"That was not very nice, even if you are right. You should not be so hard on him, Julien, his Captain is horrible and Levitas does not know any better yet. I am trying and Laurence is trying, to make him see how a Captain should treat their dragons. But he will take a long time to understand, I think. It is not so easy, Laurence says, to take away months and years of learning, and replace them with new ways. But it will happen sometime."_ he said, turning to face her full on and frown in question _. "Why did you call him a butterfly?"_ The great black dragon asked, voice full of non-understanding, his expression nearly comical in the failed mimicry of the human form of confusion.

_"Because, Soot-Dog, he looks like one. So much purple and brown, and small. I am sure he flies like one too, fluttering around like how they do."_ she said, nodding her large head once toward a lantern hanging on a post nearby, where many tiny moths fluttered about, almost invisible to even a dragon's excellent eyesight due to how large both dragons were in comparison. Temeraire frowned even more and shook his head a bit _"Stop calling me that."_ his eyes moving over Harry's form from nose to tail tip and back again once he stilled. Harry knew he was looking at her shape, mentally cataloging the similarities to his own form, much like he had done so long ago when Harry was but a hatchling along side him. _"Do you know, that you remind me very much of a friend I had. Her name was Stella, and she was like you, in shape at least, but unlike you, she was very pleasant to be near. You are too rough and cruel, I do not think she would like you so very much at all if she could meet you."_ Temeraire said, as he lazily looked over his shoulder at the line of people forming behind him, all of them gazing at the two dragons who were speaking rapid French without a care to how uneasy it was making the people around them feel.

Harry sighed in irritation and flicked her tail at the other dragon, showing her annoyance in the only way she could at this time without starting a fight she couldn't win _._ She was so very tired right now, and her whole being hurt all the way to the bone, but she had made the people in charge gather up the ones they wanted to do the harnessing for viewing tonight. _" I will not, you are so named until I choose otherwise. They are ready I think, for me to choose. We should not keep them waiting, Soot-Dog."_ the sea dragon said as a way of dismissing Temeraire to his duties as a translator. The male dragon was not impressed with her avoidance of his prodding, nor of the continued use of the name she had given him, but did let her turn away to look over the humans who were lined up before her, like some medieval, non-magical depiction of a village sacrifice to a monster in her old universe.

_'Great, now I have to take one of these and a whole new crew, and retrain everyone, plus 'learn' how to speak English on top of it all. Oh boy, we've got a lot of work to do.'_


	7. Chapter Seven: In which something stupid happens...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes:
> 
> Okay, so I don't think I'm gonna stick with the current word count (this chapter's length) as an average chapter length from now on. Right now there is little free time available for me to be writing long chapters so I might have to cut them down further or else you will go much longer without updates.
> 
> Also, I've got a Beta now - The Marvelous Pigeoncracker - who has offered to look over my chapters before I unleash them upon you. I may reword or add things to the chapters after I get them back from the Beta - such as if I suddenly feel like something didn't fit or an addition would better further the story - so if there are any misspelled words, sentences that don't make sense, or ways of speaking that are missed/added, please let me know.
> 
> I read over these a lot before posting them but I don't always catch an error and I won't be sending the chapters back to my Beta for reworking if I've altered them.
> 
> I will be reworking the past chapters and re-uploading them, fixing missing details and what not, but these chapters will not be going to my Beta, only the new chapters will.
> 
> I do not have a time-line as to when those minor edits will occur or when they will be posted so keep an eye out on future chapter's ANs for details.
> 
> I will be posting a few character artworks for this story on my DeviantArt account (my username is in my profile) so that people can see what the dragons look like. Harry is almost finished and I may be posting these before new chapters make it up, so follow me there if you don't want to miss such arts.
> 
> This is the first of my Beta read chapters so you will notice an obvious quality increase. Pigeoncracker had a few really good ideas (wording and such) so yeah, good stuff to be had!
> 
> Disclaimer:
> 
> I don't own anything to do with the Harry Potter universe, J. K Rowling has that honor. I also don't own anything to do with Temeraire, that wonderful Naomi Novik does.

 

 

 

Chapter Seven: In which something stupid happens...

 

_'Such a large crowd! How can there be so many young ones here?!'_

Harry silently groaned in dismay as her slitted eyes wandered over the eagerly chattering group of people in front of her. It seemed that the whole of the Covert was filled with nothing but young children! Well, young in Harry's mind, as she didn't think anyone below thirty years old should be in charge of a dragon anyways, never mind one that goes to war. Nearly all of the people present looked below twenty with only a handful that looked anything close to thirty.

She was stuck in a dimly lit courtyard; harnesses and crafting stations lining the perimeter and gloomy shadows cast from the surrounding buildings, making it hard to see much in the space. There was practically no room to maneuver with the sheer amount of dragons filling the area. That was probably what they intended. A line of more adult looking people were leaning against walls, sitting or just meandering in and out of space as if they didn't know what they were doing here. A lot of them looked young, but gave off the vibe of being older.

Harry was well aware that looks could be deceiving. Some could appear much older than they actually were due to the harshness of the current times. Those who looked close to thirty could very well be still in their late teens.

Oh, how she hated knowing most of her new crew was going to contain a large number of children and there was nothing she could do to prevent it. The very thought of taking a number of kids into battle caused a near visible shiver to travel down her body. Harry only barely able to suppress it. Her slowly blinking eyes, staggered breathing and gently swaying tail were the only outward signs of her extreme discomfort.

A part of Harry was laughing hysterically at the ironic stupidity of it all. She had taken many kids into battle when she was just a child herself in her past life. Furthermore, they had been fighting a war that was probably just as dangerous as this one if not even more so in certain aspects. This time, she had the opportunity to keep as many of the younger ones out of the war as she could— at least the ones under her control . Potentially, if she was careful with how she went about it, she could pick only the older and more experienced people for her crew.

_'But there might not be any older ones or even some I can work with...'_ She pondered. Sighing, she turned her chest away from the cadets and snaked her head around to let her probing gaze catch on a few of the youngest in the crowd

_'I might have to pick the younger ones and train them up a bit.'_ Harry realized. A growing fear of having to watch them all die began to blossom within her chest. She started to fidget with her claws, anxious, before stopping herself.

_'It will only be until I can get out of this prison.'_ She told herself, trying to convince her conscious that it was worth it. The idea was not a favorite of hers and would most certainly be only a last resort if things started to get ugly.

In truth, she would rather not have to take any new crew members. Including the dreaded Captain. Indeed, the very idea of taking a green recruit as her Captain was repulsive. She would rather eat a Blast-Ended Skrewt.

Perish the thought!

The closer she meandered to the end of the determined group, the more she wanted to turn this place into a pile of sodden rubble, take off, find LaCroix and get the hell out of dodge before they mounted a capture or kill team. Yes, Harry would rather do the most impulsive thing that she could think of; tearing right through these people and dragons without a care in the world as to how it would blow her cover and prove to them that, without a doubt, she wasn't like normal dragons.

No, she wouldn't get caught in the act at all.

But Harry couldn't do that— the impulsive thing, that is. At least, not anymore.

Her actions so far were already proving to be quite disastrous; landing her in a great many situations that a cool head would have escaped unharmed. Worse yet was that she knew better than this. These were not the actions of a near two century year old man with all the knowledge of how to avoid getting in such a plight. No, these were the actions and thought processes of a rebellious teen who thought they knew how the world worked and assumed no one else understood them.

Harry snorted in amusement as the thought flitted through her brain.

_'It seems that being in the body of a young dragon, or perhaps being a dragon period, has made me ignore everything I learned as Harry Potter. All the politics and war tactics, hell, even how to control my be-damned boiling temper and dratted "saving people thing"!'_ The thrice-damned teenager hormones were cropping up again.

She vaguely noticed the cadets were shifting around even more nervously now, each eyeing her like a cornered animal, worried about her loud snort. They were struggling to push their weakest in front of them as shields. She eventually turned to them when they moved into an uncoordinated heap that had once been an orderly pair of lines.

The number of gathered cadets had increased from the starting twelve to the mid twenties during Harry and Temeraire's conversation The pile now looked to be settling at around thirty-five. Most of them were higher ranking crew or runners of other dragons, many probably hoping that this night would be the one that catapulted their career forward, starting with them commandeering a dragon. The fact that it was an enemy dragon was only a bonus.

Harry continued to largely ignore everyone present, sinking deeply into thought, sparing a few glances toward her selection of a stand-in for LaCroix. There would be no replacing him.

She sighed softly at the thought of her Captain—her poor LaCroix, snatched away from his life as a well respected Aviator and turned into a P.O.W because of Harry's rash decisions. He was yet another soul she has condemned in her haste to be the hero; paying little attention to how greatly her actions were affecting others.

_'I've shunned the advice of my friends, mentors and family. There is no excuse for it. Yes is hurts to remember, but these are important lessons.'_

Her face screwed up in what others might say was a snarl, but was instead a grimace as she lamented to herself. Merlin knows why she was suddenly having a life reflection in the middle of a military camp.

_'I am alone here. Just me, myself and I to rely upon.'_ Harry realized. _'Maybe Luna.'_ She added, but she really wasn't a great source of comfort. According to the mini Luna in her head, the nargles had made a nest again. Impressive emotional support indeed.

That traitorous thought was almost enough to cause her to break down and have a good and much needed cry right then and there. Unfortunately, she couldn't do that while surrounded by so many enemies. Such a weakness would be an excellent weapon against her. Her self image was worth preserving.

Too many times in the past, she had let her emotions rule her life. She was doing it again in this new life; trodding down the same old worn road that would lead only to fatal blunders and loss.

Though there was some good news on other fronts, as Harry did have an ace up her sleeve—err, scale to help her on her journey. Pain wasn't a stranger, merely an old friend. She could push through just about anything and it had served her quite well in the past.

Her ability to set aside her own needs for the good of the current task has always been a great and well known strength of hers; albeit, not exactly the healthiest. Harry needed to fall back to the mind conditioned by the war-ravaged era she was from, and the first step to tempering her figurative armor was to stop ignoring her past.

This needed to stop now. She needed a plan. A truly solid one.

_'And Merlin, I used to be such a good planner!'_ She admonished. The amount she had failed in such a short amount of time was truly sobering. It apparently took capturing her and throwing her captain into prison to knock some semblance of sense into her head.

In his later years, Harry Potter—The Chosen One, defeater of the Dark Lord, the saviour, etc—only rarely got into any scraps at all, much less many dangerous ones. He chose instead to heed the calling of the side of himself the sorting hat had acknowledged so many years before, when little Harry sat on that rickety stool.

The hat proclaimed that the boy would do well in the house of the sly. Harry well agreed with that statement. She needed to hold her head high, keep her calm and lord over everyone else, and most importantly, figure a way out of this mess without killing, marauding, destroying, explosions; you know, typical Gryffindor stuff.

She could not do this alone. She needed help. This was a fact that she was willing to face. She was a social creature and being alone for this long of a time wasn't helping her sanity. Nothing like this she had ever faced by herself.

It had not escaped her notice that the way this reality worked very much like her old one. Whomever had the biggest stick sat up top with everyone else scrabbling over the pile of bodies in an attempt to reach him. The difference here was that there was no magic to base the prejudices on.

Here it was based in beliefs, including the truly pathetic idea that skin color matters. If one thought you were the bigger dragon, you were the bigger dragon. A political war without people sitting on their asses.

_'But enough of this depressing monologue!'_ she told herself, the warm feeling of determination spreading through her limbs. _'I have work to do.'_

Harry turned to finally face the group she had been ignoring for longer than she should have and let her large, silver-blue eyes scan the lot of them with keen interest. She picked each of the fearfully fidgeting cadets apart with just a glance or a harsh stare; long enough for them to start squirming a little under her gaze.

Most of the people shoved before her were boys or young men, only a few girls thrown in at the last minute in the hopes of maximizing the Allied forces' chance of harnessing 'the great brute'.

_'I bet they couldn't handle my teaching methods, nearly all of them seem about to wet themselves now that I'm so close to them.'_

And on that thought, Harry had a grand idea. She decided that a proper look over was in order.

Crouching lower to the ground, she started silently circling the candidates; slithering scales whispering over the stone courtyard being the only sound that could be heard from the large dragon. In her mind's eye she fancied herself as that old basilisk in Slytherin's chamber. Smooth, silent, deadly, ancient and knowing. She could feel herself start to emulate that same movement from the basilisk. It felt as if she were swimming on land. Her dark scales helping to add to the effect of a snake hunting in their midst.

So immersed in her memories was she, that a low menacing hiss escaped her snarling lips as she came up behind one of the taller and bulkier boys on the fringes of the group, frightening him into leaping toward the middle of the pile with a yelp when he heard just how close the dragon he had been trying to fruitlessly ignore was to his backside.

The movement and sudden noise startled a few more people near him. They had been chatting to one another, not expecting her to do only just now noticed Harry's proximity and followed the previous boy, dashing away from the the intimidating dragon. A hiss of warning from behind Harry brought an abrupt stop to her fantasies. It startled her a bit, even though she would never let it show. She had quite forgotten that Temeraire, the great prat, was still watching from near the sidelines!

Harry spared him only a minute glance, holding eye contact for just long enough to let him know the warning was well received and to stay out of her damn role-playing sessions, thank you very much.

With her great size on her side, she had almost completely encircled the spooked cadets, who looked like a herd of frightened cattle caught in the gaze of a hungry predator. Harry's eyes flashed dangerously at a few braver ones who tried to dash out of the little space she was leaving open for the sanity of the adults on the sidelines.

The dull orange glow from the subdued light of a hanging lantern reflected on her large eyes; pearlescent in the light with a taint of fire in her irises. They were the only thing anyone could really see in this pitch darkness, as one could only just make out a vague outline that was her body. And that wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for the millions of reflections of the lantern's glare in her pitch black scales, shimmering like many tiny windows to a hellish dimension.

It gave her a truly demonic appearance.

Many of the young lads were quaking in pure terror, wide eyes darting erratically between the older Aviators watching from the sides and the ever diligent Temeraire, asking for some kind of guidance in this unusual harnessing. The adults' decision to remain where they were spurred two of the girls on the edge to flee in tears, running through the gap toward a nearby group of adults in the hopes of finding some kind of protection there.

A small twinge of guilt filled Harry at the sight of the trembling and crying children but she quickly buried it under her firm resolve. They needed to be strong if they were to survive, and if they burst into tears over a little bit of showy hissing and tooth flashing there was no way they would make it through her actual training methods.

Surprisingly, none of the adults or watching dragons stopped Harry from intimidating the gathered cadets, so long as she kept it to non-physical aggression. Even Temeraire remained silent after his warning hiss and sat still during the sea dragon's act. Only his eyes bore into her; judgment of a harsh kind burning in their bright blue depths. She ignored the look as best she could and snorted in disdain at the remaining children, the display of terror curtailing her of the thoughts that she might find a worthy captain.

Harry was well aware that the youngest of the children, if they managed to gain her approval, would not be going anywhere for a while. Gossip among the cadets earlier told her that they were under the impression that anyone under twelve would be kept grounded with Harry; barring training at the covert or dire emergencies where a heavyweight dragon was a must.

Twelve years or older would still be training for however long it was needed, but they would be able to be sent on supervised patrols after the required two week settling time where the new Captain and Harry would be grounded and in each other's presence for the whole day. Every. Single. Damn. Day until the two weeks were up. Unless a dragon really took to a new Captain, most captured dragons would never be without some kind of supervision.

Harry definitely fell into the 'always watched' category with her current attitude.

Even knowing that these kids had a year or more of training left, depending on age, before they would be actively involved in the war with even the smallest tasks still left her feeling lost. How could these people put young kids in a position like this? She was a captured enemy dragon, one with aggressive tendencies, and she was a rare breed of heavyweight on top of that! She should be put in harness by an older or at least much more experienced Aviator, not a child who would be woefully unprepared to deal with such a large and foreign beast. Worse ever after that was Harry didn't think any of these kids spoke more than a word or two at best of French! What were these people thinking?

_'Maybe that a young mind might learn my habits faster, or perhaps they need more French speaking people so they hope to get a child young enough to learn the language fast.'_ She pondered. Grunting, she laid down on her belly and zeroed in on two, at least twenty year old looking young men. She quickly decided that both appeared too full of themselves to be worth the pain of teaching them anything.

_'Or they want a Captain young enough to mold to their will. The only other Captain they have of a rare and foreign heavyweight breed won't bend. They really don't know what to do with Temeraire and Laurence.'_ The mere prospect of being controlled like that was horrifying. She wasn't sure what such people would ask of a child with a powerful dragon like Harry, but was also the typical government that Harry was familiar with. Not all of them were bad, she was sure, but quite a few were politicians first and foremost and they only thought about how it would help them. It would make them look powerful to have control of a Captain handling such a dragon. If they're young enough you can become their 'mentor' and guide the forefront of the army.

Harry had gone over all of the cadets in the group without seeing even one that she would be willing to work with. Almost all were either too easily frightened by her size and the fact that she was an 'enemy dragon', or too arrogant and Tom Riddle-ish or Percy Weasley-ish for her tastes. Was it too much to ask for a normal child? Why are all the young ones too skittish and the older ones too full of pride?

The young ones she could understand. Dragons were scary and mean dragons are even scarier. Harry was sure that they wouldn't be this frightened if she were straight from the egg and an Allied dragon.

The older ones had no real reason to be this stuck up. They had no deeds to their name and had, obviously, no dragon to boast about. It was both amusing and annoying the way they would stare haughtily at her as if she were beneath them and that she should be honored by their very presence.

The very real fear that she would be taken to the breeding grounds or locked away was starting to set in. Her options for a Captain were running out fast and none of the elder Aviators gazing at her with longing looks were stepping forward. Could she still pick them if they weren't in the group? Or would the Corps ignore her selection in favor of forcing her to accept a more controllable person?

_'So many questions and no answers!'_ Harry panicked, eyes frantically scanning the sidelines, hoping to catch someone's eyes and lure them out for a look.

And that's where she found her. Just far enough in front that she couldn't be mistaken as a straggler of the group of cadets being put forward, but close enough to see who was to be the selected Captain, there stood a girl who couldn't be more than twelve years of age. She was in the middle of a group of children her size, who were also not part of the chosen cadets. She was staring intently at Harry, making eye contact and holding for just a tad longer in the contest than any of the others had. Her sandy colored hair was cut short like the other cadets and was almost the same shade as stuffy Laurence's own rough patch. If her hair were a couple more shades bleached it would be a perfect match.

This girl showed fear but stood firm. She only broke eye contact when an adult near her said something in a low voice, possibly scolding her for provoking interest in the French dragon. The girl shuffled back further into the observing crowd eyes cast down in an attempt to make herself look as uninviting as possible.

This would not do in the slightest! Harry saw something in this young girl that she liked and wanted to confirm immediately, even if she was much younger than Harry would have hoped to have as a Captain.

_'She's like Neville, this one.'_ Harry thought, happiness starting to bubble up within her. _'If I can keep her safe, train her up the way I want her trained...This could work. Neville was a shy thing when I first met him and look at how he turned out with only one year in the DA! He was also one my most loyal friends. Although, it looks like she might not actually be shy, but rather just a quiet type.'_

Yup, this was the one she wanted and Harry was going to have her as her Captain even if she had to throw a major temper tantrum AND reveal she could actually at least understand English if that's what it took to get her.

_'I might do that anyway; let them think I can understand some English even if I "can't" speak it back. Might help with getting rid of my moody shadow for a while if I don't need a translator at my side all the time'_

They could always assign another dragon to keep Harry from escaping. It didn't need to be Temeraire's job for every bloody second she was here. Just the thought of possibly getting rid of Temeraire's overbearing stare for a few hours a day was enough to add a spring to her step as Harry strutted forward, parting the previously encircled cadets like a boat through the oceans.

_'This girl would be young enough to let me have the freedom I want in order to keep me in harness, I'm sure. On top of that, still being able to learn HOW to properly Captain a dragon! Maybe she can be part of my crew when I get LaCroix back!'_ Harry's steps faltered for the barest of seconds. Would she even be accepted into a rank if she were to bring her back?

Would it be fair to bump her down from Captain after she had been one?

_'Or, I could take her back to France with the promise of her choice of dragon egg.'_ She reasoned with herself. _'Yes! Then she can be a Captain and friend, while I get to keep LaCroix. She could even train to be part of my formation.'_ The idea would probably backfire, though, as command would not want to put an English captained dragon alongside Harry if their was even the slimmest chance of treachery.

_'I guess we would have to make sure she doesn't turn any dragon we give her against us, so perhaps a small breed? Like a courier? Though she might take to the idea of being a pirate and helping others, so we may not have to give her a little dragon.'_ Harry's thoughts were much more positive now.

_'But first I need to get her to harness me. All this 'what if-ing' will be for naught if I don't get her to agree. She may even be one that isn't so easy to turn, like Neville, and we could end up having to take her prisoner instead.'_ Harry was almost upon the group of people when the vision of the young cadet was cut off suddenly by a large black tail slamming down in front of her.

It landed with a loud thump right between Harry and the unknown girl, preventing the bristling sea dragon from reaching the girl. Unless she stepped over the organic road block, Harry's path to the potential Captain was broken. All the cadets and adults were frantically scrambling away from the two dragons. It was very obvious what they thought was going to happen between a temperamental sea dragon who just got denied her prize and the dragon who stopped her, who had already aggravated her before. Dragon fights weren't good for anyone's health.

The other dragons there pulled back and crowded the edges of the building, staying well out of the way of Harry and Temeraire. The sea dragon lowered her center of gravity to give herself better movement within this already small space and stared at Temeraire in growing anger.

_'How dare he!'_ She nearly shouted aloud, absolutely fuming. _'Just when I find one I like, he goes back on the agreement! Was this all some kind of trick, a ploy to get my guard down? Was I always set to be killed here?'_

Out of the corner of her eye, Harry noticed the blond girl and two of her fellow cadets were being escorted away from Harry's sight by a very resigned and flustered looking Laurence. The little girl Harry wanted was staring at the two black dragons in undisguised awe. A few braver people were climbing up on the formed wall of watching dragons for a better view of the spectacle and started shouting to each other. Harry was pretty sure she saw money being exchanged.

"Temeraire!"

"Hold off now!"

"NO! Temeraire! We need him unharmed!"

"But he was charging!"

"Did you see who he was aiming for?"

"I knew this was going to happen."

"Pray, do not fight!"

"A fool's hope, that's what this was."

Temeraire appeared to be completely unaffected by the continuous calls of his fellows as he reared up on his hind legs and sounded a roar that shook her bones The sheer volume actually seemed to shake the very air around them. Harry quickly realized, with a great sense of dread, that the other dragon might actually have some kind of breath ability. She sure as hell didn't have enough water stored away to do much more than knock a few smaller dragons and their crews over.

But her fears appeared to be in vain as she was only given a few seconds warning before he was upon her, slashing with his impressively sized claws and hissing some strangled oath.

Harry spun tightly to bat away the strike with her tail, aiming to continue through and hopefully knock him out with a hit to the head. The thought that Temeraire might have seen her quick movement toward the girl as one of aggression rather than the simple wish for a closer look, flashed in her mind. It was enough for her to alter her tail's path toward Temeraire's forelegs instead of the planned head shot. At the very least, she could sweep his feet out from under him and unbalance the great oaf long enough for a pin.

Temeraire did not dodge as she had expected him too and her tail firmly caught the bicep of his foreleg with a deadly crack, jarring both dragons from the shear force of the impact. A howl of rage and injury filled the air, both the pain lancing up her spine and the fact that Temeraire had blindly rushed in shocked her. He had plainly ignored the attack signs that she had displayed before the blow made contact.

The thunderclap of contact echoed through the small space as Temeraire bowled into Harry, nearly knocking her back. They grappled for a moment, strong forepaws lashing out at vulnerable chests and sides while her tail stayed firmly against his leg, trapped painfully between the two pressing bodies.

_'The hell is happening?'_ Harry panicked as Temeraire's jaws snapped shut just inches from her nose, the snapping sound of the very visible teeth was the only thing she could hear over the rushing blood in her ears.

A sudden, searing pain exploded just below her rib cage. Temeraire had managed to sink his claws into her when she wasn't paying attention. It forced the she-dragon to focus on the here and now and rethink staying this close to him while leaving her tail at such a disadvantage. Even louder roars, growls and high pitched shrieks of pain were added onto the noise of heavy blows; necks being used like bats to land hits, wildly snapping jaws trying to close in on anything within reach. Harry only had a few seconds to savor her satisfaction when her own claws sank into the meat of Temeraire's chest as if the scales were nothing but tissue paper before the two dragons quickly pulled apart for a breather.

There was the dreadful tearing sound as damaged muscle tissue in both Temeraire's and Harry's chests opened wide to the air when the claws were ripped out, spurting large amounts of dark colored blood all over the battling dragons and drenching the stone ground beneath their scrabbling feet.

Temeraire whipped away abruptly in a defensive move, both blood covered forelegs tucked close to his savaged chest in the hopes of protecting said chest from further harm. He used the small talons on his wings as replacement forelegs and awkwardly scuttled back a yard or two, twitching irritably at the angry voices quickly rising in volume behind him. The black dragon gave the people a once-over, searching for a certain face. In failing to find it quick enough he swung his head back to Harry's panting form. A deep growling reverberated through bared teeth. His small head frills flared out, flapping like elephant's ears and quivering slightly in agitation.

Harry pulled back to catch her breath as the pain in her spine and chest spiked, starting to circle for a better angle of attack. She took a moment to examine her chest where the source of the pain was centered. She had to stifle a groan at the sight of the vicious new gashes where Temeraire's unbroken left forepaw had repeatedly gouged when they clashed. The way her tail was throbbing warranted only mild concern. She was pretty sure there weren't any smashed bones—or, at least none that were completely shattered. She could safely focus on the other wounds for the moment and leave the tail for later.

An angry fire started to burn in her belly at the thought of the new wounds, adding to the ones from the previous battles. With all the blood and bandages covering her dark scales she must have made quite the sight to onlookers. Whether she looked dangerous or pitiful she didn't know.

Harry snarled and coiled like an angry snake, her legs hidden briefly under her body before she lunged toward Temeraire with a thundering bellow; claws shooting out to lay waste to any part of him she could get a hold of. She was hoping to mangle his broken right foreleg even more. She wanted to see him in even more pain for the wounds he caused her.

_'Either that bastard has insanely tough bones or I severely miscalculated the angle! Although, the damage could also have been dealt when my tail was trapped'_ she thought, giving the throbbing tail a swift shake to loosen it as her claws missed catching his right shoulder. Temeraire had gotten smarter and dodged to the left, anticipating where her flashing claws were headed. Another loud snap of jaws grabbing air met her ears as both dragon's teeth missed their marks.

_'Now that I think on it, my tail isn't really made for whacking things. Only swimming. Maybe I should avoid using it like a club in the future. With luck I just aggravated a nerve or six thousand.'_

It was plain to see, not just from the blood and gore, but also from their pained and sluggish movement that both dragons were now in desperate need of some more nursing. Even if bones hadn't been broken, they would still need a few days, to a few weeks of rest to recover well enough for anything more than light duty.

_"I do not know why you attacked,"_ Harry wheezed, jerking away to add more distance from Temeraire when he tried to latch onto one of her small head frills with his teeth, _"but you will soon know the foolishness of your actions, cur!"_ she spat at him through heavy breaths, almost losing her 'Julien' voice in the process.

She really hated having to fight the young dragon but he wasn't making this easy for either of them. He could choose to brush off her attitude or, just out of spite, hound her for her friendship; forcing her to be nice or be treated by everyone there as a monster for continuing to be cruel when Temeraire was so eager to be her friend.

Temeraire only curled his lips, baring his teeth and breathing just as hard as Harry; wincing with each sharp breath he took. He crouched down in what appeared to be the start of a pounce and Harry could only stare dumbly at the other dragon. She had no idea how the simple action of strutting toward a potential Captain could set off such an attack by the reputationally soft hearted Temeraire. There must be some sanity to the bold move.

_'Maybe he finally had enough of my shit and the quick movement... ah, I bet his Captain was nearby.'_ she mentally berated herself for not paying more attention to her surroundings, especially if it turns out that his Captain was there. _'And again, when I start to panic, I get tunnel vision and all hell breaks loose'_

"You know very well what you did!" Temeraire finally spat in English, having caught his breath enough to speak, forgetting in his anger that Harry wouldn't be able to understand him or not caring in the least.

The bulkier dragon made to launch himself at her again and Harry prepared herself to dodge when the crack of a gun rung out, accompanied by a loud and angry cry from the sidelines.

"Temeraire! That will be quite enough! Stop this outrageous foolishness right. This. Instant!" A straight-backed form broke free from the rest of the people behind Temeraire and came storming up to stand between the two heaving titans.

_'And there goes stuffy Laurence. I thought he had died of the embarrassment he must have felt from Temeraire attacking me. Sure took his sweet time to get here... or was our fight really that short?'_ Harry mused, sighing and looking down at the human standing right in the middle of the blood soaked ground.

At least the man had sense enough to do something about the fight before one or both of the beasts wound up fatally injured, but perhaps getting in-between two angry dragons was not the wisest way to go about it.

"I do not know what you are about, Temeraire, but this will stop now and not a moment later!" Laurence roared at the wilting male dragon, before rounding on a guiltily shifting Harry with a blazing fury she was sure Molly Weasley would be quite proud of.

"And you, sir, I would have you explain yourself immediately! Just what the devil do you mean by charging the line as you did?" shouted Laurence, pointing in the general direction of where the girl, and perhaps he himself, had been standing before the brawl.

Harry twisted her mouth in irritation as she gazed down at him, piqued. She was insulted by the way this halfwit was ignoring the fact that a French dragon wouldn't understand his shouted English any more than if he had been speaking at a normal volume. It was a good thing she could or she might have decided to just eat him and be done with this whole farce.

_'I could snatch him up and swallow him in a bite! It would make my task of escaping much harder but, dammit, it would also make me feel better'_ Harry's eye twitched as she continued to glare, unrepentant, at the brave but foolish human.

It was a tense few seconds that passed before a red faced Laurence seemed to realize his error and turned on Temeraire, commanding glare daring his dragon to sulkily refuse the silent order. But it seemed that the fight had gone out of Temeraire after the disappointed scolding he had gotten from his Captain. He shakily gave Harry the translation without a single deviation from Laurence's wording.

_"I wanted to see the girl more; she looked very interesting."_ Harry said simply, making sure to look as bored as possible while leaning back on her haunches to look around for the little one that had caught her eye earlier.

It was quite comical to watch the dawning comprehension on Laurence's face as the English dragon reluctantly translated for his Captain. The man waited for a full ten seconds after Temeraire finished speaking before huffing in disbelief. All this was over the French dragon wanting a closer look at someone?

Laurence strode over to Temeraire and beckoned the dragon down to his level; somehow making him wilt even more with just that one action. The black dragon sadly lowered his head to whisper to his Captain, but whatever had been said to him made Temeraire lose what little control he had been exerting on his volume. It seemed he was incapable of doing anything quietly when agitated because Harry could hear every word just fine.

"Oh, but Roland is my runner! I do not wish to give her to some French dragon." he said, whinging, head drooping at whatever Laurence said in return. "I know he only wants to look, but what if he chooses her? Yes, I know, but she is mine... and does not even speak French. I will not translate either! Why should I if I am to loose her?" Temeraire actually pouted.

_'Oh good lord, he's going to throw a huge fit over this?'_ Harry huffed loudly and made a show of appearing annoyed with the situation; raising up on her hind legs to look over the wall of dragons in search of her quarry. Laurence shook his head and laid a hand on one of Temeraire's eyebrows to put an end to whatever else the dragon wished to say, before leaving his side and making his way over to Harry.

Temeraire looked balefully in her direction as his Captain left, but the sea dragon did not take the bait and turned her nose up at him in silent reply. The other dragon did not like this at all, and carefully lumbered over to where Laurence now stood only a little bit away from Harry herself. Swarms of people rushed out with bandages, buckets, clamps and even a few large braziers of hot coals with long metal rods heating up in them. Temeraire flopped down first on his mostly uninjured side with a wet thump, keeping most of his larger wounds off the ground so that they might be tended to easier.

As if to prove she was the more mature of the two, Harry lowered herself down slowly instead of flopping; flinching at the pain that still ran up her spine from the bruised tail. Most of the people climbing on her were less eager in their work than the ones on Temeraire, making it known that they thought her rather stupid for engaging their dragon in battle as if she could win.

_'Never mind that the little shit started it,'_ she thought gloomily as one of covert doctor's aids tisked disappointingly at the sight of the horribly slashed ribs. She could practically hear his thoughts: _'Blame it on the enemy dragon because we're too proud to admit that our prize heavyweight acts like a immature brat whose toys are being taken away.'_

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN:
> 
> Yes, I'm mean and leaving you with this cliffhanger. Truth is I need much more time to write out the actual meeting and conversations with Roland and thought you lot would like having a chapter now instead of much later. No idea when the next one will be up, so please, don't ask/pester.
> 
> EDIT: Something happened during downloading this from Google docs to putting it up here. I've found a few places where the formatting is off and other places where entire sentences are worded wrong. I think Google docs had a hiccough in the conversion and forgot a few things. Let me know if you spot something odd.


	8. A Plot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it took quite a bit of work to do this one and I had around 3000 or so words done before I realized that it just wasn't going to work. If I allowed the previous idea to continue the way it was going, it would drag out the events entirely too much for some people. So a time skip happened.
> 
> I will make sure to show detailed flashbacks of important events as they are needed but this chapter will be mostly an overview of what has been going on, and then setting the stage for where the plot of this story will really take off.
> 
> Mostly the time skip happened because a few people who read this - on every place I've got it posted so far - complained about how my intro AN about Harry not being reckless conflicted with how the story was panning out. I don't want to get nasty about pointing out the obvious but really guys, Harry is currently in a BABY DRAGON body, a FEMALE BABY DRAGON body, which means that even if the soul is a mature person the brain of the body isn't yet. This is something that most people who do time travel fics that put older people in child bodies seem to forget; you are not going to keep all your memories/maturity with a super young mind as the brain hasn't developed enough to store all that information.
> 
> Young minds run more on instinct and impulse so yes, Harry is going to be reckless until the body matures, and being a different gender than what he experienced before (especially going through DRAGON puberty) just makes for a more difficult time anyway. Although he does have memories of his past life, a lot of it is locked down/suppressed until he (she) matures more.
> 
> So, time skip to a mature Harry means less people walk away disappointed, or so I hope.
> 
> I've not forgotten or skipped over the important things when it comes to Harry and her situation, I just decided to not rush it too much and to give her a bit of trouble before things start to go her way...and then not go her way again XD I'm sorry if this is seen as 'forgetting the plot/point of the story' or 'not having any real idea of where they (the author) is going' but I haven't yet read a book where everything happens all at once and the hero doesn't have to walk a rough path before they get a break.
> 
> Personal issues update:
> 
> I am going though some rather rough times right now. Not gonna go into detail here but the basic is that I have had to do a lot of repairs to where I live, with the storms doing tons of damage to my home to the point that it wasn't really livable. On top of that I've had both human and pet family emergencies complete with meds and hospital visits galore. I am also attempting to move to a place where JOBS EXIST because this whole area is not hiring anywhere and going across country seems the only choice right now.
> 
> This means I have almost zero time to write. If I had gone with the previous idea and my 3,000 words I had down, it would have been up in Nov. But as I've had to rewrite and then had these sudden events happen out of nowhere, I just don't have time to put more than 200 or so words down a week.
> 
> I'm not abandoning this story, but, short as they are, updates will be long coming until my life evens out. I hope my readers can understand that.
> 
> For those of you who are still loving the story, thank you so much for your kind words and I really hope you continue to enjoy how this tale progresses.
> 
> Disclaimer:
> 
> I don't own anything to do with the Harry Potter universe, J. K Rowling has that honor. I also don't own anything to do with Temeraire, that wonderful Naomi Novik does.

Chapter Eight: In which a plot happens...

 

A chilly wind blew by, pushing around a small flight of over-eager dragons whisper-shouting to each other as they squabbled and tried to play with one-another. Normally this behavior wouldn't fly, it would stay on the ground until it was acceptable, but their commander happened to be a little preoccupied. Harry was pondering her predicament again.

It really was a confusing mess she was in. The British seemed to trust Harry, but keep quite a tight leash on her in fear of her escaping. They had given her loose control of a group of dragons to stave off an attack on a nearby Allied patrol, while at the same time, all the dragons were fast fliers that could easily prevent Harry from escaping.

Almost a month and a half had passed, Harry reckoned, since she had been captured and forced to accept a new captain. A lot had happened in this time. Since she now had an English Captain, she had 'learned' to speak enough English to follow commands, managing to gain a bit trust from the other dragons she was housed with. A mix of toning down her attitude and keeping her less than pleasant ideas to herself had allowed her to make a few tentative friends of the smaller dragons. Unfortunately, her closer relationship came at a dangerous price... her identity was nearly exposed daily.

Harry's magic was out of control. It did what it damn well pleased in random spurts. Her area effective spells tended to either fail spectacularly when cast or cause another spell of the same class that was currently active to fall. So, if Harry had an area silencing charm up and tried to apply another area effective charm, like a protective ward, the silencing charm would either fall and be replaced by the ward or the ward would not take effect, basically failing to be cast.

This also happened with any spells on her person, like the scent modification charm she wore constantly. It had dropped quite a few times when she forgot and tried a warming or cooling charm. Temeraire was now very suspicious, having smelled a strange female dragon that he couldn't see on more than one occasion.

Harry had only been saved from discovery by being hidden behind a bunch of sleeping dragons or in the middle of flight training when the spell had failed. Her luck was running out. Soon it would be obvious that she was a female and not a male; mature bodies of both genders had obvious signs and hers were pointing toward the female side of the spectrum.

Although it was a bit irritating to possibly loose a good identity, Harry was confident in the source of her magic's problem seeing as all this trouble started when she had finally reached maturity.

Dragon bodies in this world were not inherently magical, at least not to Harry's knowledge, so casting or having magic cast on them was more difficult the older the dragon was. Harry was not at all happy with this sudden development. She needed her magic for many things, like her disguises or to help with carrying more people or cargo than others could. The only good thing that seemed to come out of this malfunction was that her control over the weather was much better. It was chaotic in nature and seemed to like answering her call for disorder.

Storms were a literal breeze to stir up and she could turn a clear day of lightly scattered clouds to a strong thunderstorm in under five minutes. Directing wind currents and lightning strikes were also new and difficult to pull off without a lot a concentration, something that was almost impossible to do if attempted in the middle of a fight. The she-dragon still couldn't dismiss a storm to save her life. She could only stop feeding it magic and let it die off, which didn't help at all if they had a naturally occurring storm that she needed to kill.

Harry hoped that with practice and age she would be able to control the weather with a finer precision. Right now, a major thunderstorm with hail and heavy wind was the nastiest she could conjure up. No tornadoes, hurricanes or blizzards... Though she had managed a slight dusting of snow one rainy day during a flight over the covert. The resident dragons and people were extremely startled at seeing an unexpected snow storm; Harry on the other hand had been ecstatic.

But even with everything going severely wrong with her magic, nothing could compare to her major problem in the form of a new arrival at the Covert.

A medium sized male French Heavy-Weight dragon; a betrayer of the current leader of France. He was an older Chanson-de-Guerre named Praecursoris. He and his Captain, Choiseul, were apparently traitors to France by way of being royalists, which meant that Bonaparte was seen as nothing more than an enemy occupier of their homeland, and not their true leader. This put Harry in a particularly tight spot. Not due to having any real loyalties to Bonaparte herself, but because both Choiseul and Praecursoris saw her as an enemy and not a possible ally.

Both had been surprised to see her when they arrived and had kept a civil, distant attitude when interacting with her in any way. It was Choiseul who eventually took pity on Harry when the language barrier was brought to light, and the man set aside the time to 'teach' Harry English and in turn the sea dragon taught her temporary Captain, Emily Roland, how to speak some French. Neither were very fluent in the other's language with Emily only learning French through Harry, who was making a show of having too much difficulty speaking enough English to really impart the other language in full to the young woman.

But even with Harry's fake handicap keeping the new Captain limited in her knowledge, Emily was still doing quite well in learning how to be a Captain, much better than Harry was in learning how to be an English dragon apparently.

That was a truly frustrating thing to admit. That the flags and maneuvers of the English were so different from the ones she learned in France that she couldn't keep them straight in her head and she would often would get them severely confused. After two weeks of this, Harry had finally gotten tired of being reprimanded by the training master, the dragon called Celeritas, for getting the signals mixed up and abandoned the dragon's flag sessions all together. Harry instead chose to lay outside of the building holding the classes for the humans and put her big head down near the open door, allowing her to watch the instructor teach Emily and the other young ones each of the signals.

This was stopped when the other children spent more time glancing at the eye of an irritated French dragon than paying attention to the flags and other important things they were trying to learn. Now, Harry was slowly learning everything from Emily through repetition of little pictures on paper, like flash cards. This was being accomplished in their off time from flight training. Emily would go to class while Harry was doing mock fights with the other dragons who were not carrying Captains; most of the Captains either taking a meal or in a meeting during these times.

When both Emily and Harry were done with their required tasks, the new crew would go through their harness drills on the dragon's back as she and her Captain studied the 'flash cards' to catch Harry up.

It was during one of these flash card sessions that Harry overheard Celeritas land nearby and order Lily, the Longwing whose formation Temeraire was a part of, to either aid or replace—Harry wasn't clear on the orders—Mortiferus, another Longwing who was currently in hot water near Cadiz. Again, Harry wasn't sure about the location because her eavesdropping had been halfhearted until she noticed the other dragons were getting restless. By then it was too late to gather any real Intel. All she knew was that Lily and her formation made up of Temeraire, Immortalis (Yellow Reaper), Nitidus (Pascal's Blue), Messoria (another Yellow Reaper) and as backup, Praecursoris, were to head out immediately.

Meanwhile, Harry was being ordered to take her meager formation and head off and beat back a small group of lightweight French dragons that were set on harassing a pair of Allied Yellow Reapers. Harry's formation comprised of only Dulcia, a Grey Copper who was part of Lily's formation normally; Volatilus, who was there as the fetch-help-now or be-the-bait dragon; and Levitas, the only-good-for-spying Winchester. Somehow, Harry had to help these Yellows that were part of a patrol being ambushed on their way to the Covert. Word was being spread that they were injured and tired from fending off half a dozen small, fast flying dragons.

If the dragons were only the smaller lightweights, then Harry couldn't see herself having much of an issue. Dulcia and the two Yellows would be able to help round the little buggers up so that Harry could go in and rip the French attackers apart. Although she would prefer to simply chase them off, she had to make a point that she was loyal. Meanwhile, Volly could go back to the Covert and report on the types and number of French dragons in the area.

If all went well, Levitas and Volly wouldn't have to get into the fight at all, but the she-dragon knew that her luck wasn't that good and those reported lightweights were probably the tip of a group of much larger dragons, or the info was wrong and Harry and her group would be going in against a group of fire-breathers and no useful Allied backup nearby.

Neither situation was ideal.

But she had no choice. Those dragons needed help and Harry was the only one big enough to deal the heavy damage to the enemy needed to keep the others of her force mostly intact.

And unfortunately for her little group, it seemed that night was swiftly coming and soon there would be only a dim moon to see by if the winds kept the clouds away...

_'Oh, joy'_ Harry thought, glancing over at the pinkish-orange sun as it quickly sunk behind the deep blue of a nice sized mountain. _' Just what I wanted from a damn windy patrol, a possible pitch black night fight.'_

 

_To be continued..._


End file.
